


If You're Hell I Can't Wait to Burn

by allyoop_1



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blood and Gore, Crazy Eren, Emotional Manipulation, Horror, Humor, M/M, Mental Instability, Mixed Up Levi, Serial Killer Eren Yeager, Serial Killer Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Slow Build, Vigilantism, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-07-24 14:58:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 54,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7512670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allyoop_1/pseuds/allyoop_1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“What the hell even are you?” Levi murmured, but Eren must have heard him because he shot him a grin as he bent to grab the shovel Levi had dropped.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I’m an Aries, but I don’t usually take that kind of thing too seriously; I prefer to make my own destiny.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i> And then he was digging up a mound of dirt and tossing it in the makeshift grave.</i>
</p><p>Or: Levi is emotionally unstable, Eren is a serial killer, and they meet while burying bodies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wolfy_P_Smith](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfy_P_Smith/gifts).



Levi always found the forest after dark to be calming. There was just something to be said about the lack of human touch that led to the free growth of foliage and a silence so thick you could nearly taste it. These particular woods always held the slightest scent of ozone, probably because the trees were packed too tightly together for any wind to disturb the still air, and because of this time seemed to be suspended in the moment after a lightning strike. While most people would probably find the scant moonlight and silence intimidating, he reveled in it. Here was where he truly belonged, where the taint of society couldn’t touch him and he could be all alone with his thoughts.

Well, almost alone, but he didn’t really think to count the dead man he was trailing along behind him.

Maybe trailing wasn’t the right word. Maddox “Maddie” Porter was a beefy man to begin with, but his corpse was a fucking mountain and Levi’s muscles were aching with the strain of pulling him. On top of that, the tarp he was resting on kept snagging on exposed tree roots and overturned rocks, and each time Levi had to give a vicious tug that had Maddie’s head flopping to the ground with a dull thwacking sound; it had Levi torn between feeling a sick vindication and vindictively being sick, but any vomiting would have to come later when his DNA wouldn’t have the chance to link him anywhere near this crime. He’d worked too hard for this all to be fucked up by his weak stomach.

Checking his watch, he growled. He’d have to be faster than this if he wanted to make it home before dawn. Fortunately his chosen dump site came into view.

The spot wasn’t anything special, and that’s exactly why he’d picked it. The trees were even denser here, making it unsuitable for hiking or biking, and the blanket of last year’s leaves would provide a nice cover for any disturbances in the ground. What was more, it was in a cross section of land that had been disputed for decades; it was technically private property but not one person could lay claim to it so it would remain virtually untouched.

Releasing his grip on the tarp, he shook out his arms for a moment. With all of the extensive preparation he’d put into this night, he should have also considered adding a workout regime because his arms were starting to feel like noodles and he hadn’t even gotten to digging yet. Luckily fall weather in Missouri was a temperamental bitch and it was a warm and balmy night. He was thankful; trying to dig into the frozen ground would have required upper body strength he just didn’t have.

Not wanting to delay any longer, he set to work clearing a space on the ground and breaking in with the shovel he’d kept slung along his back. He’d already dug a majority of the hole on a previous trek out here, and he only needed to clear some debris and add a little depth before it would be ready.

The thud of the shovel and whisper of sifting dirt as it left the blade soon became a muted hum in the back of Levi’s minds as his thoughts took over. Try as he might, he couldn’t help but tick over the events of the night, trying to force the hazy images into some kind of semblance of order. Posing as a Ride Share driver, picking Maddie up, having a little chat in the abandoned Burger King- none of that was really clear. But the clean slick of his blade as he’d driven it through the back of Maddie’s neck and severed his spinal cord? That was clear as crystal and damn near as satisfying.

It was only after he’d nearly finished digging and was beginning to wonder how he was going to remove himself from the hole when he realized he should have been paying a little more attention to his surroundings. A low whistle sounded behind him and he whirled around so fast he buried an elbow in the dirt wall.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you! Must be the lighting- everyone feels a little jumpy out in the deep dark woods, eh?”

A figure was kneeling at the edge of the grave above him, arms wrapped around knobby knees and chin resting on top. Lawless brown hair hung low on a shadowed forehead, but even that wasn’t enough to hide the wide eyes shining gold in the moonlight peeking through the tree branches above. The figure- a boy _,_ Levi realized- looked to be about his own age, clothes fashionably tattered and impish smile stretching his face a tad too wide.

Levi tried to push farther back, but only succeeded in shifting some more dirt over his shoulder. He frantically tried to take stock of the situation, but the overwhelming mantra of “Shit, shit, _shit”_ playing through his head kind of made that difficult. He was fucked, so fucking _fucked_ (figuratively and literally because who knew what happened in those all male prisons when the lights went out). After all his careful planning and meticulous calculations he was going to go to prison because he was caught by some fucking _kid_. What the hell was he even doing out here at this time of night anyway? And why wasn’t he freaking the fuck out? Levi was standing in a grave, for Christ’s sake, and the kid was just sitting there _beaming_ at him like there wasn’t a dead body laid out on the ground not even ten feet from him. Before he could draw in enough oxygen to form a lie, the kid was speaking again.

“I was just admiring your hole here- pretty impressive if I do say so myself! But I do wonder how you’re going to get out? I’m not one to judge, but it looks like you’re really in over your head here!”

He chuckled at his own joke, eyebrows rising as if inviting Levi to join him. Instead, Levi curled his lips, temple wrinkling distastefully. God, what was wrong with this guy? He continued to laugh for a moment before abruptly sobering, though his grin was still firmly in place.

“Sorry,” he shrugged, “I couldn’t help myself. You’re just so small; it’s cute.” Levi was going to take offense to that but the kid continued before he could formulate the right version of _fuck you_. “But for real- you want some help getting out of there?”

The boy extended his arm and Levi took a moment to consider the situation. He was a 5’3 teenager with minimal upper body strength stranded in a 6’0 deep hole, had no aid other than a kid who’d either miraculously failed to notice the tarp covered dead body that Levi was very obviously digging a grave for or was entirely too stupid to be wandering the woods by himself, and needed to get back to the safety of his house before dawn to avoid arrest and a life sentence in prison. He did the math.

“Fine,” he mumbled, gingerly meeting the proffered hand with his own. “But your hands better be clean.”

“Of course!” the kid beamed before yanking his arm with a strength belied by his lanky arms. Levi didn’t even have to use the walls for purchase as the other singlehandedly lifted him out of the hole and deposited him on the grass beside him. Levi rolled to his knees, experiencing a brief moment of panic where he noticed the body behind the kid, but it was covered pretty well by the blanket of leaves so maybe he really _hadn’t_ seen it.

Okay, okay, maybe he could still make it out of this. He just had to get rid of the kid and then he could finish the job and return home. Getting this clueless fucker to leave seemed like it’d be a real chore though. The small part of his mind that was still reveling in the kill from earlier whispered that it’d be all too easy to do the same to the boy and just add him to the grave, but the part that still held a piece of morality cringed at the suggestion. He’d just have to persuade him to leave.

“Kid---”

“Hunter.”

Levi scowled. “What?”

The kid smiled again. “My name. It’s Hunter.”

God, he was even dumber than he looked- who the hell gave out their name to complete strangers in the woods, let alone strangers who were digging graves? “Okay, well, _Hunter,_ you probably shouldn’t be out here at this time of night. It’s dangerous.”

“Says the guy who was just trapped in a hole.”

Fair point. “Listen, your family is probably worried about you. You wouldn’t want to worry them, would you?”

Hunter shrugged. “Don’t have a family.”

Oh God, he was not dealing with any teenager family dramas tonight. “I’m sure that’s not true. Whatever your parents did you can get over---”

“No, I literally don’t have any family. They’re dead.”

“Oh,” Levi said, floundering at the other’s calm expression. “I’m uh, sorry for your loss---”

“Besides,” the kid continued, “I’m old enough to be out by myself anyway.”

“I didn’t say you weren’t---”

“17 is the legal age of adulthood in Missouri. I don’t have to answer to anyone.”

“That’s not what---”

“Technically I’m allowed to make all autonomous decisions about my body and what I do with it.”

“What the hell are you even---”

“I mean, I can’t fulfill my civic duty by voting or choose to drink alcohol, but by God I can sleep with a man twenty years older than me and be dealt a life sentence with my status as an adult---”

“What the fuck are you even doing out here?” Levi yelled, finally getting the kid to shut up and blink at him. Shit. He probably shouldn’t have said that; now the kid was going to ask the same of him and he didn’t exactly have a good answer for that.

Hunter just laughed. “Same thing you are, I’d wager.”

“I seriously doubt that,” Levi mumbled.

“Well, you’re burying a body, right?” Hunter said it so nonchalantly that Levi almost didn’t catch it at first. When he did, he felt momentarily dizzy his eyes snapped so fast to meet the other’s innocent gaze.

“…What?”

“You’re burying a body in this grave, yeah?” His eyes didn’t dim or change as he smiled at Levi and gestured to a similar tarp behind Levi’s own back. “Me too!”

And suddenly Levi wasn’t imagining being thrown in prison for the rest of his life, but instead how those golden eyes would shine at him in glee as long fingers wrapped around his neck and squeezed until the world went dark. This was worse than getting caught- fuck that, this was worse than becoming someone’s bitch in prison. This kid was crazy, completely off his ass crazy, and Levi was going to die. 

Levi paused. Fiery red hair and a determined smile wavered at the edge of his vision and he suddenly felt a flicker of rage ignite deep in his belly. Fuck this. He had way too much to do still and this crazy ass kid wasn’t going to ruin that because he got off on killing people and dragging their bodies into the forest. Keeping his face carefully blank, he sat back on his hands.

“What a coincidence,” he said conversationally, leaning back until his knuckles were grazing the handle of the shovel behind him. “What are the odds of us finding each other tonight?”

“I _know,_ right?” Hunter enthused, hands clasping under his chin. “It’s crazy!”

That’s not the only thing that’s crazy, Levi thought. Stealing himself, he wrapped his hand around the handle of the shovel, but before he could bring it up he was being jerked roughly to his feet, the shovel slipping from his grasp.

“Okay, enough talk. We’ve got two bodies to dispose of! We wouldn’t want to be discovered- you’re much too pretty for prison orange.” He winked at Levi before slinging the tarp he had brought along over his shoulder and dropping it in the grave. Levi only had a moment of pure shock to marvel at the strength in those shoulders before he was clenching his fists.

“The hell I will. Am I supposed to trust you? You fucking killed someone!”

“Aw come on, so did you! Don’t be a Judgey Judy!” Hunter placed his hands on his hips, pouty lips pursing as if he really did find Levi’s words offensive. “Besides, work always goes faster with company! Here, let me help you.”

And then he was dumping Maddie in the hole just as easily as the one before, not even breaking a sweat as he hoisted the nearly 200 pound man over his shoulder.

“What the hell even are you?” Levi murmured, but Hunter must have heard him because he shot him a grin as he bent to grab the shovel Levi had dropped.

“I’m an Aries, but I don’t usually take that kind of thing too seriously; I prefer to make my own destiny.”

And then he was tossing Levi the shovel and procuring his own from a patch of tall grass. Inclining his head at the pile of dirt beside the hole, he said, “Well, there’s no time like the present! Let’s get to it.”

He started to turn, but then spun back around to face Levi with a sheepish smile. “Oh, one more thing.”

And then Levi really _did_ feel those long fingers wrapping around his throat as he was shoved back until the majority of his body was dangling over the grave. He scrambled uselessly at the edge of the hole with his tennis shoes, kicking dirt and grass into the void below, but his body was angled too far back to gain any purchase. Hunter gazed at him as Levi clawed at the hold on his neck, eyes suddenly dark as pitch and smile absent for the first time that night.

“If you even think about trying me with that shovel again,” he deadpanned, “there won’t just be two bodies in this hole tonight. Understand?”

Levi nodded frantically, gasping as the hand temporarily tightened around his throat and further restricted his airways. Hunter held him there another moment, staring through him with dead eyes, before pulling him back over the edge and letting him crumple to the ground.

“Okay then, let’s get this show on the road!”

 Levi wheezed for a breath of air as he warily watched Hunter saunter over to the hole and grin down into it.

“Bye Julie! Sorry it had to end like this, but you should really know better than to talk to strangers. And bye- uh…” He turned towards Levi, head tilting. “What was your guy’s name?”

Levi just stared at him, trembling hand still clutching at his throat.

Hunter shrugged and returned his attention to the bodies. “Well, bye other guy. See you on the flippity flop!” And then he began filling the hole.

***

It was only after they had finished the grave (complete with the dead body of a deer about two feet below ground level- “Trust me, dude, cops always think it’s the animal if their dogs sniff out the spot”) and were surveying their work that Hunter finally thought to ask him about Maddie.

“So the cops gonna search for this guy a lot?” he said, wiping the dirt from his gloves on his pants. “You gonna make the papers?”

“Of course not,” Levi growled, eying the kid’s newly soiled pants in distaste. He’d finally gotten over his earlier scare, but Hunter’s threat had gotten the job done; Levi hadn’t tried anything the entire time they’d been shoveling. “I’m not stupid. I made sure no one would miss him.”

“And how’s that?”

“He was getting ready to run.” Levi said. “I sent out some fake leads, made it look like the feds were on his tail. He was already getting ready to disappear when I got to him. They’ll just think he left.”

A slow grin made its way across Hunter’s face. “Smart as well as cute. Oh how I love a man with a brain.” Levi grimaced as Hunter chuckled and started collecting his tools. “Too bad you won’t get any media attention, though. How badass would it be to get a name or something? Assuming this wasn’t a one-time deal, that is.” He raised an eyebrow at Levi, but Levi avoided his gaze. This kid didn’t need to know anything more than what he’d already seen tonight, and that was entirely too much to begin with.

Unfazed, Hunter continued, “That’s what everyone wants though, isn’t it? To be remembered for their deeds? To be immortalized in the hearts of millions by that one great big act?”

“No.”

Hunter’s head swiveled towards him. “No?”

Levi scowled at the leaves pooling around his ankles, crossing his arms across his chest. “No. I don’t want people to know my name. You get a name and people start looking for you. That’s how you get caught, you idiot.”

When he chanced a glance up, Hunter was regarding him openly, head tilted and mouth curled into a smile. “Interesting.”

Levi wanted to punch the stupid appraising lights out of his eyes, but suddenly remembered that he didn’t have anything tying him to this situation any longer. He spun on his heal and started trudging back the way he’d came.

“Wait!” he heard behind him and he growled as he sped up.

Hunter crashed into him from behind and Levi pushed him off. “Get the fuck off me!”

“You didn’t tell me your name!” he said, beseeching eyes catching the reflection of the moonlight so that Levi had to turn his gaze away. “I told you mine; it’s only fair.”

“Yeah, like I’d really tell you my name after we buried bodies together.”

Hunter threw his arms in the air. “That’s _exactly_ why you should tell me! We’ve bonded- blood brothers and all that jazz! You owe it to me as a fellow child of the night.”

“The fuck does that even mean?” Levi murmured, trying to sidle around the kid, but he was suddenly grabbed by the forearms and held in place by that strong grip.

“Tell me,” Hunter ordered, eyes flashing and Levi faltered. He searched desperately for something to give him before he became another body for Hunter to bury.

“Spencer.”

Hunter rolled his eyes. “Yeah and my name is really Hunter. Be serious.”

Levi sputtered, squirming in the kid’s grip. “You gave me a fake name and now you want me to give you my real one? Are you serious?”

“I didn’t know you earlier,” the kid shrugged his accusations off. “Now that we’re blood brothers, things have changed.”

“If that’s true then what’s your name?” Levi said haughtily.

“Eren.”

Levi scoffed. “How could I even believe that?”

“Because it’s true.”

Levi pulled against the hold on his arms again. “Oh my God, I don’t care! Just let me go!”

“Not until you tell me your name,” Eren/Hunter/the kid said calmly, looking as if he could wait around all night for an answer.

“I can wait around all night for an answer, you know.”

Fuck.

“Fine,” Levi spat. “My name is Levi. Happy?”

“Levi…” Eren let the name roll across his tongue in a way that had Levi shivering and he suddenly had the idea that no one would ever say his name in quite the same way again. “Well, _Levi_ , it was pleasure doing business with you. I hope we meet again real soon.”

“Doubt it,” Levi grumbled, pulling out of the kid’s grip and turning away sharply. Behind him Eren laughed.

“Don’t be so pessimistic, Levi.” Fuck, there was that shiver again. “Fate has a mysterious way of working!”

“I thought you didn’t believe in fate,” he couldn’t help but call back. He was rewarded with a throaty chuckle.

“I think I could be persuaded.”

Levi didn’t turn around again but it wasn’t necessary to feel that heavy gaze following after him until he was out of sight. When he finally reached the car he let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding all night. He still wasn’t home free, but Eren’s help really had made the job quicker and he wasn’t in as terrible a time crunch to get home as before. Leaning his head against the steering wheel, he sighed.

One down, so many more to go.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who left feedback on the last chapter- it really inspired me to continue this! Ya'll da best:)
> 
> Also, this is for Wolfy, who gives the best critique and practically hashed out the entire plot for me- thanks homie.

Repressing a jaw cracking yawn, Levi sank down further in his chair, eyes watering as they strained to follow another line across the screen. At this point he wasn’t even sure what he was reading any longer, the words on the page muddling together into one huge blur. Maybe it’d just be best to stop for the time being.

Raising his arms in a much needed stretch, he pushed back from the computer and glanced around. He’d been cramped in a small cubby at the back of the library for hours now, pouring over page after page of information. Little had changed since he’d arrived save for an exchange of faces. The building was oddly comforting in its monotony; sure, he’d killed a guy last night, but Norma the librarian was still shelving the Encyclopedia Britannica by the Dewey Decimal System, so how fucked could the world really be?

Shifting, Levi sighed. The trip had nearly turned out to be a bust. The only bit of info Maddie had been inclined to share with him (other than several pleas for his life that Levi didn’t buy because he knew for a fact the man didn’t have a wife and three kids waiting for him in Arkansas) was a single name, one that Levi recognized even. After running it through a couple search engines and even a social media site or two, Levi had concluded that Dot Pixis was one paranoid motherfucker who took great strides not to be found. Fortunately for Levi, Kenny had been even more paranoid and subscribed to several public record search systems. They were surprisingly legal so Levi didn’t have to worry about triggering any police tags on the local servers. The only reason he even used the dinky computer lab hid in the dark recesses of the library was because their servers were outdated as fuck and it was that much easier to hide his activity online, so he didn’t want to be busted for using some sketchy website.

He’d managed to get an address and the scraps of a criminal record on Pixis, but nothing nearly as expansive as what Maddie’s search had procured. It seemed that for the most part Pixis led a pretty clean life. On paper, at least. Having personal experience with the guy, Levi knew he’d been involved with a couple meth operations Kenny had gotten tied up in. That said, the guy had managed to remain pretty well inconspicuous. He wouldn’t be able to scare Pixis with some fake leads like he had with Maddie, so he’d have to be that much more careful with disposal. Though not armed with nearly as much information as he’d like, he’d scope out Pixis’ house tonight and make his move the following evening.

Which, consequently, put his kill on Sunday night. As unappealing as it sounded to interrogate and kill a man on a school night, Levi would suck it up and do it. High school sucked anyway; what was some extra sleep deprivation and crippling anxiety on top?

 Groaning at the ache in his muscles as he stood, Levi gathered his phone and car keys and made for the exit. The bright sunlight was blinding after the dimness of the library and he had to squint against the glare on his windshield. He also felt entirely too exposed out in the open like this. At least the library had offered a sense of anonymity among the dusty shelves; out here in the chill of the morning sun, he felt like everyone was staring at him. Which was ridiculous. He knew he was being stupidly paranoid, but the knowledge that no one could possibly guess what he’d done last night didn’t quite quell the pounding of his heart or the stiffness of his gait.

Sighing, he gingerly lowered himself into the seat of his car and let his head fall back against the headrest.  

His body was exhausted. Back sore from digging, palms blistered from the shovel, and eyes heavy from lack of sleep, he was physically an aching mess. The night before he’d only had the energy to drag himself into his bed before collapsing, but even as exhausted as he was his constant companion insomnia hadn’t let him rest more than two hours. It wouldn’t have been a good idea to sleep in anyway; he rarely slept past nine and any longer would have drawn unwanted attention. Despite seeing the logic in it, his body still complained every time he so much as twitched and he knew it wouldn’t be getting a solid rest for a while.

What was worse, though, was the mental toll of the previous night. He still wasn’t sure how to feel about taking another man’s life. On one hand, it had been surprisingly easy. He hadn’t felt a lick of remorse as he’d plunged the blade in Maddie’s neck and watched the blood run and stain his palms. In fact, he’d almost enjoyed it. Maddie wasn’t exactly a stranger; Kenny had always been parading one slimy brownnoser or another through the home while Levi was growing up and even if they’d never explicitly spoken with one another, Levi had seen recognition flare in the man’s eyes even as the life drained out of them. No, he hadn’t felt bad because he knew exactly what a blemish on humanity Maddie really was.

But that was the part that scared him more than anything. Did he enjoy killing Maddie because it took him that much closer to his end goal or because of the power rush of playing God? Or was it even worse than that: the actual act of taking another’s life?

Levi cringed, shying away from the thought. It wasn’t like that, _he_ wasn’t like that. He had a goal and he was working towards it, nothing more. He needed to stop doubting himself. This was only his first kill. If he couldn’t handle the first, how did he expect to take care of the rest?

Thankfully, the drive home from the library took him through the winding gravel roads of the country and didn’t allow for much room for thought. It wasn’t long before he was pulling into the driveway of a ranch style house, bordered on all sides by farmland. He allowed for a small smirk when he saw who was waiting to greet him at the gate. Stepping out of his car, he knelt down and pushed his hands through thick white fur.

“Hey Duke,” he said, affection coloring his voice as he stroked the massive head of the Great Pyrenees. Duke responded with a dopey smile, drool dripping from his jowls and making Levi grimace. “I don’t know why I bother with you. You’re disgusting.”

Duke dipped his head, paws toing at the ground, and Levi rolled his eyes. “You know I’m just joking. I like you better than practically everyone else in the world right now.”

Duke seemed pleased with his words and cheerfully trotted alongside him as he made his way to the front porch. Despite being sunny, the wind carried the chill of the impending winter and he pulled his coat tighter across his shoulders. He’d been out far too long if the relief warming his veins was any indication and he felt a weight slip off his shoulders as he slid through the front door. This house was the only place he really felt safe anymore, which didn’t even make sense since---

“Levi.”

Levi froze, taking in the cop standing in the middle of the living room. Icy blue eyes stood out from a weathered face, cold gaze all the more lethal with age. The man didn’t make a tall or imposing figure, 5’7 at most, but the way he held himself spoke of a great confidence in himself and his abilities. The badge on his chest was impossible to miss, more so the gun cocked on his hip.

“Sheriff.”

The man suddenly smiled, shaking his head at Levi good-naturedly. “Always so formal. I’ve told you to call me Tony.”

Levi shrugged. Old habits.

He chose not to say anything as Tony began pulling off his outer gear and locking it in the cabinet shoved in beside the television. He threw Levi a look over his shoulder.

“Where were you off to all morning?”

“Library.”

“Homework?”

“Yes,” Levi lied easily. It was a trait he’d honed through the years.

Tony grinned, shaking his head. “Levi, you’re the only kid I know who does their homework on a Saturday morning.”

Finally freed from his gear, he meandered into the kitchen, leaving Levi to wonder if he should follow him. He was saved the decision when the man called something from the kitchen. Not inclined to shout across the house, he made his way into a campy but clean kitchen and rested against the island in the center. Duke dropped heavily at his feet and began gnawing on his shoelaces.

The sheriff was fumbling with the coffee maker, the black sludge dribbling out not easily stomached by anyone but a cop. When he saw Levi, he scooped up his mug and two muffins from a cooling rack on the stove. Levi fumbled a catch as one was tossed to him.

“Pet made these this morning. They’re a little on the chewy side, but not bad,” he said, mirroring Levi’s position on the counter and taking a bite. Levi eyed him, hoping this didn’t turn into some awkward small talk situation.

“So how has school been going?”

Fuck.

“Good,” Levi mumbled, picking at the foil wrapper of his muffin.

“I’ve been hearing good things about you down at the station.”

Levi didn’t doubt it. Sasha Blouse the high school receptionist and biggest gossip in the entire town, spent an inordinate amount of the department’s time shooting the shit with off duty deputies and making ridiculous advances on one of the dispatchers. She was an idiot, but a loved one, and the sheriff didn’t mind having her around since he could always count on her to keep him up to date on town gossip.

“Your grades are up.”

Levi nodded.

“Attendance perfect.”

Levi nodded.

“No disciplinary record to speak of.”

Levi nodded again. He figured if he agreed enough, the sheriff would let him leave faster.

 “I would be inclined to believe that everything is fine.” He paused for a moment, as if waiting for Levi to say something. When all Levi did was pick off a piece of muffin to feed to Duke, he sighed. “But Sasha Blouse tells me you’ve been skipping lunch and avoiding your friends.”

Sasha Blouse needed to keep her whore mouth shut.

There was still time to make an escape if he played this right. Shuffling around the dog at his feet, he tossed back, “You know Sasha has a couple screws loose. I have more homework, so I’m just going to---”

“Levi.”

Cringing, Levi paused at the door. God, he hated that patronizing tone.

The sheriff approached him with a frown, clearly not liking where this conversation was going any more than Levi did. “Listen, kid. No one expects you to be perfect through this whole thing.”

Obviously not, with the way everyone was treating him like fucking glass.

“It’s good that you’re still working hard in school, but it’s okay to take some time to grieve---”

Levi’s mouth pulled taut, barely restraining a growl, and the sheriff hurried to correct himself.

“--- _adjust_ to these big changes in your life. You have people all around you that want to help you, people that want you to succeed. Just don’t shoulder all this by yourself, okay?”

Levi felt his carefully composed mask starting to fracture (fuck if he wasn’t tired of acting like everything was fine), but gave a brief nod. The quicker this conversation was over, the sooner he could forget it’d ever happened.

“Okay.”

The sheriff sighed and Levi knew he hadn’t fooled him, not completely at least. It was then that a light pair of footsteps sounded on the porch and both men turned to watch a slight strawberry blonde slip through the French doors at the back of the kitchen. Levi couldn’t decide between relief that Petra had interrupted the interrogation by the sheriff or apprehension that she’d instigate her own. He decided on the former when she greeted them both with a huge smile.

“Hey Lev, Dad.” Noticing the tense atmosphere that still permeated the room, she turned an accusing eye on her father. “Dad, you weren’t going all Sheriff Mode on him again, were you?”

Tony scoffed, waving away her accusations. “Of course not, Pet. We were just having a little conversation, man to man. Right, Levi?”

They both set heavy gazes on him, Petra’s dubious and the sheriff’s slightly pleading. It was almost embarrassing how fast a 14 year old kid shorter than Levi could bring the trained law enforcer to his knees.

Levi nodded, figuring he could get some brownie points in with the sheriff. “Just a talk,” he agreed.

Petra still looked uncertain, but the sheriff quickly smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry about it, Pet. Now hurry up and get ready; we’re going to lose our lane.”

Every Saturday the Rals spent a couple hours working up their high scores and talking shit at the other regulars in the small bowling alley tucked in the armpit of the Leisure World downtown. Petra had tried her hand at convincing Levi to join them, but he always declined: his time had recently become more precious to him and he didn’t want to waste any of it striking out in the seedy sleaze bucket the locals affectionately called Sleazure World. Besides, he would hate to intrude on their bonding time. Petra and Tony were all each other had, a feeling Levi could relate to all too well. He was more than grateful the two had taken him in on such short notice (though Levi was sure that had more to do with a debt Tony felt he owed Levi’s long dead parents than anything else), so he hated when his presence got in the way of their time together.

Small hands suddenly enveloped his, and he was broken from his thoughts as Petra queried, “Are you sure you don’t want to go, Levi? There’s always room for another on Lane Ral.”

Levi had to lower his gaze, her pleading hazel eyes too familiar in their innocent determination. Petra was just the right age and had just enough grit to be constantly blindsiding Levi with memories of a similar gaze, but thankfully the girl was sensitive enough to usually catch herself before pushing too hard. Now was such a time, and she pulled back with one last squeeze to his fingertips.

“Maybe next time, then,” she murmured before smiling sweetly at him and making for the stairs to the second floor. Levi didn’t watch her leave, attention lost in the intricate patterns of the tile below him.

The sheriff sighed, dumping the dregs of his coffee into the sink and washing out the mug.

“Okay then. I’m going to get changed. Pet and I won’t be out long today. We’ll probably bring something home for dinner, so don’t worry about that.” He started to follow his daughter to the second floor, but paused with his hand on the doorjamb. Twisting around, Tony shot him his most hardened sheriff stare, the one usually reserved for hysterical parents and weeping spouses.  

“We’ll find her, Levi. I promise.”

Heart giving a lurch in his chest, Levi couldn’t hold the man’s gaze.

“I believe you.” He didn’t.

Satisfied, Tony nodded briefly before stomping up the steps and leaving Levi in a (blessedly) empty kitchen. The Rals were both getting pretty good at throwing him off balance. Not that it was too hard as of late, but still. If it continued, he’d have to find a way to start avoiding them, and that would just be a pain in the ass.

Shoulders slumping, Levi followed the Rals up the stairs to the room he’d temporarily been set up in. He rubbed blearily at his eyes. Maybe he would take a brief nap…

“Nice place ya got here.”

Levi nearly took his entire dresser over he startled so hard. Slamming the door to his room, his heart gave a feeble quake in his chest at the scene in front of him.

Eren was sprawled across his bed, one bent leg draped over the other as his sneakered foot swung lazily in the air. He was in the same clothing from the night before, right down to the shit eating grin plastered across his face. Debris from boxes Levi had yet to unpack was strewn around the kid on the bed, books and knick knacks tossed about as if they weren’t the only remnants of a life now past. Levi’s gaze went red as he noticed his favorite novel creased right down the middle and resting on the kid’s chest.

Eren noticed and smiled.

“I got bored waiting for you so I took a little gander around your room. Impressive number of Christina Aguilera CD’s, by the way.”

“What the hell---”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too, but who am I to judge another man’s musical preferences.”

Now that the shock was fading, Levi felt a mix of rage and fear bubble up in his chest. How dare this little shit invade _his_ home and go through _his_ things? Did Levi fucking look like he shared? “What the _fuck_ are you doing here?”

“Checking up on my favorite grave-digging buddy, of course! I was worried you wouldn’t be feeling well today---some people get a little down after their first kill.”  

“Shut up,” Levi hissed, glancing at the door behind him. Both Rals were just down the hall and he didn’t want to have to explain why some raggedy ass street urchin was lounging across his bed and discussing their post-homicide emotional states.

“How the hell did you find me?” he grit out, trying to keep his voice low.

“I followed you home last night. Smart idea, switching out your car plates.” Eren flipped to his stomach, the book falling to the floor as he propped his head on a hand and grinned crookedly. “Then again, you have insider information, don’t you?”

Levi bristled at the mention of the sheriff. How long had the kid been here? Long enough to be in the house alone with Petra? “You need to leave.”

Eren rolled his eyes, legs kicking idly in the air. “That’s no way to treat a guest, Levi. Honestly, were you raised in a barn?”

Levi ground his teeth in barely concealed rage. “Get the fuck out of my house.”

“Your house?” Eren drawled out, curiosity peaked.

“Yes,” Levi seethed. “I live here.”

“With the sheriff.”

Levi didn’t say anything. It was bad enough the kid already knew where he lived. He wouldn’t give him anything else.

Eren laughed incredulously. “What is this, some kind of _Dexter_ shit? Law abiding sheriff’s kid by day, crime-fighting death angel by night?”

Levi pursed his lips and Eren jumped to his knees on the bed.

“Oh my God, it is!” he crowed. “You’re a vigilante, aren’t you? God, that’s cute.”

“I am _not_ a vigilante.”

And suddenly Eren was dangerously close, so close Levi had to bend back to see his face, and Levi was forgetting his justified rage in favor of a lung-constricting terror. Eren wasn’t just some punk ass kid who’d decided to break into his house for kicks. He had fucking _killed_ someone the night before, murdered them in cold blood and tossed their body into a makeshift grave as easy as someone else would check their mail. Levi’s back hit the door behind him, fingers clawing desperately at the varnished wood and lungs struggling to bring in air.

Eren leaned an arm over Levi’s head, smiling as he towered over him. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a call from outside his door.

“Are you okay, Levi? I heard a noise.”

Levi froze. He needed to answer or Petra was going to try to come in and investigate, but he wasn’t sure he could with the way Eren was pressing even closer to him. When he managed to glance up, Eren inclined his head as if urging him to return Petra’s call.

Drawing in an uneven breath, Levi managed to grit out a shaky, “I’m fine.” His eyes clamped shut, teeth grinding together, at the obvious crack in his voice, but thankfully Petra didn’t say anything more. When he opened his eyes again, Eren was staring down at him with a small smile.

“If you’re not a vigilante, then what are you?” he continued on as if they’d never been interrupted, breath blowing hot across Levi’s brow.

Levi needed to get control of himself. “N-none of your damn business.” God, had he just stuttered?

Eren’s head cocked to the side, lidded eyes staring right through him. “Mmm, I beg to differ. You’ve got quite the history, huh Levi? Both parents dead by the time you’re five, a guardian more concerned with his next hit than the two kids he got saddled with, a huge brain but nowhere to apply yourself.” He shook his head, chin brushing Levi’s bangs. “You could probably get some killer scholarships with that sob story. But the _real_ fun stuff just started a couple of months ago---”

“Shut the fuck up,” Levi spat, shoving the other boy as hard as he could. Eren didn’t even stumble, though he did back up a bit with widened eyes. Face flushed and breath coming out in harsh pants, Levi tried to calm down, but the fact that Eren knew so much about him---had probably looked it all up on Levi’s own damn computer---had him in an emotional tailspin and he couldn’t get a grip on himself.

“God, you’re hot when you’re frisky,” Eren chuckled, that golden gaze traipsing down Levi’s form. Levi felt his skin prick with the violation. He wanted to bash the kid’s face in, see if he could still leer at him without any teeth, but settled for clenching his fists so hard his nails cut into the soft skin of his palms. Eren was obviously unstable; he couldn’t risk setting him off, especially with the Rals just down the hall.

“Relax, relax,” Eren continued, throwing both palms up in placation. “All I’m trying to say is that you’re new to this. I could help you, you know.”

Yeah, that was a good one. Levi took advantage of Eren’s temporary retreat to place himself behind the bed. See that fucker catch him unawares now. “The fuck you will.”

“No, no really!” Eren exclaimed, placing his hands on his hips and tipping his nose in the air. “Not to brag, but I’m pretty awesome at this murder thing. It would only be polite for me to extend my services to you.”

Levi snorted. “Yeah, and at what price?”

“Merely the pleasure of your company.”

“Yeah well, I’m not interested.”

“You will be.” He said it like there wasn’t a doubt in the world.

Levi rubbed both knuckles into his eyes. God, he couldn’t deal with this any longer. “ _Why_?” he huffed out. “Why won’t you just leave me alone?”

There was a pause, and Levi looked up to find Eren staring at him with a strange light in his eyes.

“I can’t. There’s something about you, Levi, something I can’t quite place.” He cocked his head to the side, eyes roaming over Levi’s face as if he could discern all his secrets if he only looked hard enough. “I’m not going to stop until I figure it out.”

It was as if ice had been poured down Levi’s spine. There wasn’t an ounce of doubt or hesitation in Eren’s golden gaze and he suddenly had the feeling this was the most truthful Eren had been since they’d met.

“Anyway,” Eren continued sunnily, somber mood forgotten. “I’ll be heading out now. Nice visit and all, but I do have a life, you know.”

Eren took his time meandering to the window and the significance wasn’t lost on Levi. He was proving that he was leaving of his own volition, on his own terms, and that he could come back just as easily. 

“I hope you’ll consider what I said, Levi,” he said, pausing with a hand on the sill. “I mean, your consent really has little meaning to me, but it would be much easier if you didn’t fight.”

Levi glared at him. If he thought he was ever getting near this house again, he was dead wrong. “Don’t ever come near me or this family again.”

If Eren was put off by the rejection, he didn’t show it. If anything, he looked all the more pleased. “I’ll be seeing you, Levi.”

And with a wiggle of his fingers he was out the window.

Levi drew in an unsteady breath. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was feeling, but the adrenaline still pumping through his veins was making it hard to calm down enough to figure it out. Hands shaking, he returned to his desk and dropped into the seat.

He should have killed the kid when he had the chance. Yeah, he was completely insane and had some kind of super strength, but anything was better than having him following him home and putting the Rals in danger. He thought of the sheriff’s concerned gaze, Petra’s angelic smile, even Duke’s stupid laughing face. He owed them and instead had invited some kind of homicidal delinquent into their home.

Running a ragged hand through his hair, he dropped his head into his hands. He’d just have to find some way to get rid of him. It wouldn’t do for him to be tailing after Levi and threatening his foster family. He’d think of a way, somehow, but for now he still had a shit ton of planning to do. After all, he was scheduled for murder the following night.

Settling in, he got to work drawing out a plan. And if he found his thoughts returning to that tiger-eyed gaze more often than not, well, no one else had to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments and kudos much appreciated:)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember that little archive warning at the top of the page? That comes into play here.

They say there are two types of jobs: those that require a shower before and those that require one after.

Murder requires both.

But maybe that was just a Levi thing. It wasn’t that he was obsessed with hygiene or cleaning, per se; he simply didn’t tolerate filth in his life. Kenny had subjected him to enough scum through the years with all the sleazy men he paraded through the house (and didn’t _that_ sound dirty), and Levi was loathe to invite any more. When you’re surrounded by mud, you either slum it with the other pigs or find a way to rise up. For Levi, that was staying clean. Not only did his habits keep him smelling fresher than the majority of his pizza-faced peers, but they also had the added benefit of keeping crime scenes relatively free of pesky forensic evidence like dead skin flakes (and yeah, they had the tech to use that now).

Which led to his current situation, freshly bathed and dressed (literally) to kill as he hiked through the dense woodlands adjacent to the Pixis property.

The call of cicadas covered the sound of his footsteps, the incessant buzzing grating on his already frayed nerves. Above him the moon swelled huge and pregnant through the trees, casting an array of dancing shadows that taunted him with each step. In an (un)surprising turn of events, Missouri had gotten another warm front. It successfully pushed away the fall chill, but left a cloud of humidity that turned the air to jelly and settled unpleasantly in the creases of elbows and knees.

Levi cursed as he slapped at another mosquito on his arm. He should have just driven his car straight to Pixis’ house. Yeah, it placed him at the scene of the crime, but at least he wouldn’t have had to deal with fucking bugs and fucking mud and fucking trees and--- shit, was that a spider?

Levi tried not to squeal as he flicked the furry arachnid off his shoulder. God, nature was just so _wrong;_ who the hell needed that many legs anyway? Wrapping his arms protectively around his torso, he soldiered miserably on through the undergrowth.

Clearing a crest in the land, he finally came into sight of a small cabin settled at the bottom of a hill. It looked as if it came straight out of a dime Western novel, wooden siding unvarnished and rough around the edges. A single light shown from deep within the house. Levi knew it to be a kerosene lantern in the main room, which included the kitchen, living area, and bedroom all in one. Separate was the bathroom, a small alcove in the corner of the larger room.

The most notable aspect of the property was the river that wound behind it. A branch of the Missouri, it ran swift and nearly silent, the deadly undertow masked by the eddies and whirls that marred its surface. This particular portion of the water was colored a deep muddy brown, a key trait of most of the Missouri River; uncharacteristic, however, was the stench of shit it carried. Levi (and nearly all the town residents) knew that the hog farm upriver was illegally dumping in the water, though no one really cared enough to confront one of the few sources of income in the area (thank you, capitalism). The smell got pretty rancid in the summer months and was the reason Pixis had no neighbors on such choice property.

Levi snorted. Pixis’ paranoia sure was something to behold.

After creeping up to the window least illuminated, Levi tentatively peaked in. Pixis was facing away from him, head thrown back as he swallowed the last dregs from a Coors Light bottle. Sprawling across a recliner, he considered a half-completed game of chess on the table in front of him. It looked to be the same game he’d been working on the night before when Levi had scoped the place out, and he wasn’t sure if he was disgusted or marginally impressed that Pixis forsook all forms of technology in favor of playing board games with himself. Levi had to give the guy some credit, though; at least it wasn’t anything embarrassing like a brony obsession.

After some contemplation, Pixis finally just shook his head and lazily stood into a stretch. Levi’s nose wrinkled as the man absentmindedly reached a hand down to scratch at his crotch. Not only did the guy live in a literal shit shack, drink himself into oblivion each night, and sport a Stalin ‘stache, he was also trailer trash with a likely case of crabs.

Levi snorted. Nice company his uncle Kenny kept.

Yawning, Pixis made for the bathroom with a newspaper in hand and Levi dropped back to the ground. If the man followed the same routine he had the night before, he’d spend a good ten minutes in there before collapsing in bed in a drunken stupor. Levi figured he’d move in then and catch the man asleep. It would much easier to knock him out and tie him up if there wasn’t some kind of struggle.

He honestly wasn’t expecting much of a fight anyway. Pixis was vigilant, but he was also an old drunk, and Levi thought he’d get him tied up and screaming in no time.

Levi paused. He really should have worded that a little differently.

Fifteen minutes passed, and then twenty. Levi began to get more nervous the longer time went on and Pixis still didn’t exit the bathroom. He could see the light from the lantern peeking out from beneath the jamb, so the man was still in there, but doing what Levi wasn’t sure.

“Come on you selfish bastard, I have school tomorrow,” he groused, climbing to his feet as he made to look through the window yet again.

Maybe he had suspected it on some level, because the blow to the side of his head came as no surprise and he crumpled to the ground in a pained heap.

“Thought you could get the drop on me, eh?”

Levi clutched a hand to the side of his head and fought off the static clouding his vision long enough to glance up. Pixis looked calm and collected, a direct contrast to the shotgun he held in his hands.

Despite the severity of the situation, Levi stifled a laugh. He almost expected the man to start ranting about on damn teenagers being on his lawn with the way he was clutching his shotgun against his naked chest. He really wasn’t too concerned; yeah, the guy had him cornered, but Levi had seen all the empty beer cans lining the kitchen counter. Levi doubted the man could even see straight, let alone shoot. Then Pixis leveled the barrel at his forehead and he found the situation a tad less humorous.

“You’re Kenny’s kid, ain’t you?” Pixis inquired before chuckling humorously. “Oh, you’re in a right bit of trouble, son.”

Mouth twisting at the casual way he’d been linked to his uncle, Levi tried to get a leg underneath him. He was promptly rewarded with another swift knock to his crown. (That bastard really needed to stay away from his head; at the moment his pretty face was all he had going for him.)

“Stay down if you know what’s good for you,” Pixis warned and Levi mentally cursed. The situation was going south, and fast. If he didn’t get Pixis to stand down, he was going to have to fight him, which was probably a bad idea since the bag containing his weapons was still over by the window ledge. It was clear he’d severely underestimated the man and his paranoia, but he’d rather not pay with his life. He’d have to play this smart, especially if he still wanted to interrogate the man.  

Pixis shuffled on his feet, head cocking to the side. “Now, I ain’t ever known Kenny to be anything but a yellow-bellied bastard, but sending his own kin on a hit don’t seem right, even for him. He know about you bein’ here?”

Levi slowly rolled to his knees. If Pixis didn’t know what had happened to Kenny, he was not nearly as informed as Levi’d originally thought. Fuck, maybe the guy was a little _too_ isolated out here in the boonies. There was still the possibility that he knew someone who would have what Levi needed, though, so he had to keep him talking. And preferably not get shot in the process, though that was a different issue entirely.

“Yeah,” he said. “He heard you’d been slingin’ for Maddie. Wasn’t too happy about that.” 

“Maddie’s a bitch; ain’t no one slingin’ for him no more,” Pixis scoffed. “Who’d he hear that from?”

“I don’t know. I was just sent here to scope things out.” Levi shrugged, hands coming behind him to toy with the edge of his boot. “There’s been a lot of talk like that between the runners here lately. Something going on up top?”

Pixis eyed him warily. “Now why would I tell you that?”

Shit. Pixis really wasn’t going to tell him anything. He should have known; the guy was suspicious as fuck and Levi really hadn’t started off on the best foot, what with spying on him and planning on breaking into his house to kill him. Yeah, he could have played this better.

Levi heaved a put upon sigh, reaching into his boot to grasp at the knife he had hidden there. “Well, if you say you’re not with Maddie, I’m sure Kenny’ll believe you. He trusts you. I’d best be getting back before he starts worrying---”

“You’re talkin some real shit, you know that, son?” Pixis interrupted. “Ain’t nobody seen Kenny in two months.”

Levi’s entire body went rigid, his grip on the knife going lax. Shit, the fucker had been playing him the whole time. And if that was true, he really _was_ in a right bit of trouble. He had to think of something before he had his brains blown out.

“You know what I think?” the man continued, eyes hard as they bore down on him. “I think you’re fixin’ to look for him. Don’t bother. That man ain’t worth nothin to no one ‘cept the devil and that Leonhart chick. If you’ve got any brains about ya you’ll run far, far away and---”

He cut off with a grunt as Levi swiped the knife at his ankles (thank fuck Levi was just as paranoid as Pixis himself). Part of the blade connected (who was getting the drop on who _now_ , asshole?), but not enough to do any real damage. Levi jumped to tackle him, but Pixis easily fended him off and sent him sailing to the ground. His boot caught the sensitive cavity of Levi’s belly then and Levi curled into himself around waves of pain. He was prone on the ground now, face pressed into the heady scent of dirt and earth, and the next kick caught him in the nose. He felt warmth spill down his face (so much for his pretty face) and he grunted with the ensuing rush of pain.

“Goddamn kid!” Pixis shouted, aiming another booted kick at his side. “I was fixin’ to let you go! Fuckin hell, now I ain’t got a choice.”  

He raised the shotgun and Levi stared down the barrel for the last time. He thought about moving, but his body hurt just a little too much for it to be worth it. Every cell in his body screamed that it couldn’t be over---he wasn’t _done_ , dammit---but his vision was swirling and his mind wandering and he couldn’t really be bothered to hope for anything other than whatever waited at the end of that barrel.

It was almost humorous at how right Kenny had been: he wasn’t strong enough to protect his family. Not before, not that night, and certainly not now. He really should have thought this whole murder thing through a little more, because he kind of sucked at it. A sickly smile stole over his face as he waited for Pixis to get on with it. At least now he wouldn’t have to live each day with that cloying sense of guilt always sitting heavy on the back of his tongue. He wouldn’t have to live at all.

The last thing he did as he heard the round click into the chamber was reach a hand up to grasp at the bird-shaped pendant around his neck.

“If you see Kenny in hell,” Pixis said, “be sure and spit that fucker in the face for me.”

At that moment there was a whooshing sound and a loud crack of some sort of collision instead of a shell to the gut like Levi was expecting. Fighting back the black veil trying to seduce him into a deep sleep, Levi looked up just in time to watch Pixis tumble to the ground, losing the shotgun in the process. Someone stood above him, crowbar dangling loosely from their hand as they leered down at the felled man.

“You know, you really shouldn’t take the time for cutesy little one-liners before killing someone,” they said conversationally, and Levi’s stiffened as he recognized the voice. “Yeah, they’re fun, but they really just open up time for a counterattack.”

Pixis pushed to his elbows, an ugly snarl marring his features. Levi wanted to warn him to shut the fuck up, but like a nightmare his muscles locked up, freezing the words in the back of his throat.

“And who the hell are you?”

“The counterattack,” Eren grinned, plunging the crowbar into Pixis’ thigh.

Levi whimpered as Pixis screamed. He needed to get up, be anywhere but here, but even his vision had cleared and there was no escape, mental or physical, from the horror unfolding in front of him.

“I’m no medical expert, but I really think you shouldn’t mess with that,” Eren said, leisurely following along as Pixis tried to pull himself away. Aiming a well-placed kick at the protrusion, Eren laughed as Pixis cried out in agony. “Oops.” 

“Please,” Pixis pleaded, futilely trying to pull the crowbar out of his thigh. Funnily enough, Levi could only think about all the blood that would get stuck under his fingernails. He’d need more than a shower to clean those out. “Please stop.”

Eren shook his head, one arm crossing over his chest as the other bent to support his chin. His grin stretched his mouth too wide, lips pulled taut over his teeth. “Is that really the best you can do? That doesn’t convince me at all!”

“Whatever you want, I’ll get it for you!” Pixis was nodding frantically, eyes wide in deadly honesty. “You want drugs? Money? I can do it! Anything!”

Eren considered him for a moment, finger tapping at his chin. Finally he inclined his head. “Apologize to Levi.”

Levi flinched at the sound of his name, curling farther into himself. God, leave him out of this. Pixis looked confused, eyes flickering between Eren’s tiger-eyed gaze and Levi’s small form in the grass. “W-what?”

Eren flicked a hand lazily in Levi’s direction. “Apologize. You gave him some real nasty boo-boo’s and got him all dirty. Plus, I think you hurt his feelings.” He shrugged. “It’s the least you could do, honestly.”

It was then that Levi and Pixis made eye contact, and Levi almost felt sorry for the man. Sure, he was a paranoid, hash-slinging hick who played chess with himself, but the same doe-eyed fear was spread across Pixis’ face as Levi’s and he didn’t think anyone deserved that.

“S-sorry.”

He sobbed as Eren kicked the crowbar again. “Say it like you mean it,” he said with all the conviction of a mother scolding her preschooler.

Pixis was weeping now, tears running down his cheeks and catching in his mustache. He reached pleading hands out, which Levi scooted away from. “I-I’m sorry, Levi, p-please, I’m so sorry.”

“Now that’s more like it!” Eren praised. “Anyone with a soul would be moved by that touching declaration.” He dropped both hands to his knees, leaning over them and grinning crookedly at Pixis. “Fortunately, I’m not bound by such a thing.”

And then the crowbar was being torn from his thigh and driven straight into the man’s neck. Levi squeezed his eyes shut, but that didn’t stop him from hearing the gurgle as Pixis took his last breath. His instincts were going haywire, wave after wave of adrenaline coursing through his veins and shrieking _run, you fool,_ but he felt the same way he did when he was ten and Kenny had given him a knife for the first time: stupid, scared, and paralyzed with a mind-numbing fear.

There was the sound of movement and Levi couldn’t help but crack an eye open. Eren was studying his handiwork with a detached eye. Brow furrowing, he sighed.

“Well, that was not nearly as satisfying as I thought it would be.”

Taking the crowbar in hand again, he slammed it into Pixis’ skull with a dull thwacking sound. He smiled.

“Better.”

Stomach rolling, Levi pulled his knees under him and dragged his body to the river’s edge. He retched pathetically, stomach emptying his meager dinner into the murky current. The river’s odor was overwhelming this close, eliciting several more dry-heaves that left his body shaking. Wiping his mouth with the back of a trembling hand, he let himself fall to the side, staring unseeingly at the tide below him.

“Tsk, tsk, I _told_ you you’d need my help, Levi.”

With what little strength he had, Levi twisted around. His body was screaming at him to push back, get the _fuck away_ , but the river boxed him in and he didn’t have the strength.

Eren was kneeling a couple feet in front of him, the mess of his hair haloed in the white rays cast from the moon. His expression looked smug, but that changed when he caught sight of Levi’s face. Eyes alight with concern, he extended a hand that had Levi shrinking back farther on himself.

 “Hey, are you okay?”

“Do I fucking _look_ like I’m okay?” Levi snarled and the other boy abruptly pulled back like Levi was some prissy little dog that had snapped at his hand.

“Well I know you got hurt a little, but---”

“Hurt?” Levi laughed humorously. “Yeah, I got hurt a little. Pixis did too. He was begging and you punched right through his _throat---_ ”

Levi’s stomach turned again, and he leaned over his knees as he heaved drily. Wiping tears from his eyes, he sat back and tried to quell the shivers wracking his body.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he hissed, streaming eyes settling a weak glare on the other.

Eren’s eyes narrowed at that. He tried to move in closer, but Levi flinched.

“He hurt you, Levi. He was going to _kill_ you. What did you expect me to do?”

Levi shook his head, shaking hands catching in his hair. This was wrong, this was so, so wrong. He had planned to swoop in, get some information from Pixis, and put a nice, clean cut into the back of his neck. There wasn’t supposed to be any pain, any suffering, any begging, pleading, sobbing, _screaming_ \---

He abruptly pushed to his feet.

“I have to clean this up,” he said, taking a step forward. There was still time to salvage this. He just needed to mop up the blood, burn the cabin, dispose of the body, and then he could go home and wash up. Come morning this would all seem like a bad dream and he could forget how the stars had winked down at him with the weight of all his secrets, those damn stars---

Stars, why was he seeing stars? Levi blinked as he felt strong arms loop tightly around his waist. The world stopped spinning and he felt his legs catch faintly beneath him. He’d fallen, but he was rising up into the dark of the night instead of lowering to meet the ground. Lifting a trembling hand, he reached for the golden lights in the sky. Had the stars always been this close?

A pair of them blinked at him and he startled. A warm hand wrapped around the one Levi had reached out with, red smearing between the two.

“Levi,” Eren said bemusedly and Levi wrenched from his grip.

“Let _go_!”

The world swayed again and he wasn’t sure if he fell to the ground or merely floated away. He had to get out, though, get away from strong arms and red-washed hands and golden stars that burned right through to his very soul.

His hands scrambled uselessly in the dirt (so he hadn’t floated away; good to know). Okay, okay, he’d dig a hole. He’d put the body in the hole and then he’d bury it, he could do that. A warm touch registered on his shoulder and he jerked away.

“Hey, hey,” he heard from behind him. “Calm down, Levi, you’re going to hurt yourself more.”

“Get the fuck away from me,” Levi hissed, digging hands into the muddied dirt below him. He frowned. There hadn’t been any mud here before. Lifting a hand to his face, he whimpered at the telltale red slick across his fingers. He frantically rubbed his hand across the ground, but it was no use, the blood was seeped into the dirt, on his hands, under his fingernails, in his hair, his clothes, his _mouth_ \---

There was a loud sigh from behind him. “I didn’t want to have to do this.”

And then there was a whoosh, some pain, and Levi was staring up into those golden stars again as he finally succumbed to the black veil slipping over his eyes.

“Don’t worry, Levi. I’ll take care of everything…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not sorry for the cliffhanger trololol. As always, comments and kudos much appreciated:)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a bit short, but I like it. Next week will be longer, I promise.

Levi only remembered sensations after that.

Mist dewing lightly on his skin, the cloying scent of dirt and blood, a distant thwacking noise almost lost to the bubble of the river current.

A gentle rocking motion as he’s pressed into warmth, the aroma of sandalwood and lavender easing the tension in his shoulders, a strong beating against his ear.

The sensations flashed by, his mind not present enough to fully catch any of them. All he knew was that he felt safe, warm, cared for, like he hadn’t been in a while. Content to float in this limbo forever, Levi didn’t fight as he went under again.

It was the pounding of his head that finally brought him back to full consciousness. That and some horrible 90’s pop song inviting him to live la vida loca. Fuck Mix 93.3 and their stupid weekend throwbacks.

It was warm, uncomfortably so, and he grimaced at the muggy cling of the air to his skin. Behind the music, there was a rhythmic whooshing sound, keeping time with the patter of something wet. It was far from loud, but each noise was like a needle being driven into the space behind his eyes; he couldn’t be sure, but he thought this was what an aneurism felt like. Groaning, he tried to roll over but felt something pulling taut at his chest and locking him in place. He blinked blearily, trying to get a handle on his surroundings.

He was in his car. Or rather, the passenger seat of his car. The windows were fogged against the heavy downpour outside, wipers working double-time to clear the windshield enough to see the outline of a road whipping by. It was dark, the blue glow of the dash the only illumination in the gloom of the car.

Levi gingerly swiveled his head ( _fuck_ , that hurt) to regard the driver. Eren looked entirely at ease as he used one hand to steer through the downpour. His shoulders were relaxed and his face tranquil as he mouthed the words floating from the radio. (Man the kid really had nothing going for him: a vicious killer _and_ a Ricky Martin fan? Hopeless.) Most of his features were cast in shadow, but his eyes managed to glow golden and fiercely alive, though in what reflection Levi wasn’t sure.

When he noticed Levi stir, he turned down the music and smiled.

“Hey,” he said, voice soft. “Good to see you’re awake.”

Levi knew he was supposed to be afraid. He’d practically been kidnapped by a sadistic sociopath, who, by the way, still had flakes of dried blood from his most previous kill streaked across his face. It was insane---the kid had just mutilated a guy, but still had the energy to stomach 90’s pop---and any sane person would have been hyperventilating by now, but the only thing registering was an overwhelming numbness that lay heavy over his body like the relief after a long drag on a cigarette.

“How are you feeling?”

Well, wasn’t that the question of the hour.

“Fine,” he answered shortly.

Eren shot him a look. “You probably won’t be feeling fine tomorrow. Those bruises are gonna ache something fierce.”

Levi figured. It already hurt to breathe.

Suddenly a finger was trailing down the bridge of his nose. Levi sucked in a harsh breath as it lingered on the tip.

“Your nose looks pretty bad, but I don’t think it’s broken. It’ll probably swell a little, so you’ll need to think of a good story to tell tomorrow.”  

Eren looked to be genuinely concerned about him, evident in the soft gleam in his eye and the tenderness of his touch. Levi didn’t trust it, not for a second. Concern was too easy to fake; just ask any number of abused spouses after the third or fourth or fiftieth time they’d been hit. 

Levi turned his head to gaze out the window, dislodging Eren’s finger in the process. “What did you do about the body?”

“Don’t worry about it, I took care of him.”

“How?”

“That river was pretty conveniently placed.”

Levi shot him a look (a movement he wouldn’t repeat; quick movements=bad). “You tossed it in the river? What are you, stupid?”

Eren met his eyes bemusedly. “You really don’t have any trust in me, do you Levi? I weighed him down, don’t worry. Anything else will be taken care of by the storm.”

Levi settled back into his seat. He didn’t want to have to think about how Eren weighed the body down, but judging by the easy way he’d torn into it earlier (cue stomach rolling), it probably hadn’t been anything new for him.

“Besides, I doubt they’d be able to identify him by his face or teeth any longer.”

Levi shivered and it had nothing to do with the cold air coming out of the vents.

“How did you get me here?” he asked, pulling his arms tightly around himself.

Eren smiled crookedly. “I carried you, of course. Consider it practice for when we finally give in to our mutual attraction and you let me treat you like a princess.”

Levi chose to ignore that. He actually wasn’t as upset about the manhandling as he should have been and that was scaring him a bit. “Honestly, I almost expected to wake up in chains in some slimy basement.”

Eren tucked his chin and snickered, peering up at Levi from beneath his bangs. “Geeze Levi, I’m not a monster. I save the kinky stuff for the third date, at least.”

Levi couldn’t restrain an amused snort, a flash of humor bubbling up from beneath the numbness that had settled over his body. He quickly schooled his features into a glare, but the damage had already been done. Eren was gaping at him like he’d given him the most precious gift in the world, an awed sort of reverence clouding his eyes as he stared unabashedly.

“You should do that more often,” he whispered, hand clenching on the steering wheel like he was working hard not to reach out and touch.

Levi scowled. He didn’t like the way Eren’s eyes were lingering on the curve of his lips. “What, snort?”

“No, smile. You’re beautiful when you smile.”

It was said without any fanfare, Eren smiling at him the same way he always did, but it struck Levi in a spot that was rapidly weakening against that cheeky grin. He struggled to tear his gaze from the siren call of Eren’s eyes and was relieved when Eren finally turned his gaze back to the road. Levi slumped in his seat, exhausted. Leaning his forehead against the window, he grimaced. He couldn’t deal with this right now. There was so much else that needed his attention.

The night had been disastrous. Not only had he nearly died, but he’d failed his family on multiple accounts. It was obvious to him that he just wasn’t cut out for this kind of work: he was small, untrained, and too slow in a fight. Even his words had failed to get him out of the situation, and he didn’t know what else he could rely on if not his intellect. Maddie had to have been a fluke, so much a coward that he’d broke and told Levi everything he needed to know with one measly show of a knife. It was almost laughably ridiculous how terrible Levi was at this whole murdering thing, but he sure didn’t feel like laughing at the moment. The only positive to come out of the night was the name Pixis had spouted unthinkingly. Well, that and maybe something else…

“You know, you did pretty well out there.”

Eren’s voice pulled Levi from his thoughts and he glanced over. The kid had an arm leaning against the window sill, head resting on an upturned palm. His eyes were focused forward, but the intensity they sparked with told Levi where his attention really lay.

“That guy was pretty difficult, Level 10 boss at least,” he continued. “You should feel good about how long you held out.”

Levi glared at him and the kid threw a hand up in placation. “No, really! I bet if he hadn’t been so paranoid, you wouldn’t have had any problems with him at all. It was a good plan.”

“If it had been a good plan, I wouldn’t have needed you to bail me out,” Levi huffed, looping his arms tightly around his waist.

“I don’t think that’s true,” Eren said, smiling at him again. “Besides, I don’t mind. I told you I’d take care of everything, didn’t I?”

And he had. Which brought Levi to the second positive of the night.

“Does your offer still stand?”

It was said so offhandedly that Eren tore his eyes from the road to regard him closely. “Come again?”

“Your offer of assistance,” Levi said, glaring out the windshield; he couldn’t stand to watch the pitiful demise of his own pride. He didn’t need to turn, anyway, to see the way Eren’s entire countenance lit up.

“You’re asking for my help?”

Levi didn’t like the exuberant tone of his voice. He didn’t like anything about this at all, but after the harsh lessons of the night he’d come to the conclusion that he needed help. Eren was experienced and had already offered, so it was a simple thing to say yes.

Except it wasn’t.

Levi could still hear Pixis’ agonized screams as Eren toyed with him, the paralyzing fear that he could be next still fresh in his mind. Eren wasn’t a variable he could control. He was unpredictable, impulsive, and deadly; Levi would have to be careful not to set him off.  The proposition itself was also not without a price. Eren already seemed slightly obsessed with Levi; who knew what he would do with express permission to be around him.  

Still, Levi was nothing if not a strategist and he knew Eren would be an invaluable piece for his chessboard. It defied everything he had been taught growing up, but he found the strength to answer Eren with a simple, “Yes.”

Eren didn’t reply for a moment, and Levi managed to tear his gaze from the fascinating crack in the corner of his windshield long enough to look over. Eren’s eyes were shining in unadulterated glee, mouth screwed up against the force of a million-watt smile. He seemed to be struggling to rein his emotions in, an act Levi was pretty thankful for.

“Okay,” he agreed.

It was simple, just a few words exchanged in acquiescence, but Levi knew he’d just sold his soul, and to something much worse than the devil. He could only hope he’d manage to finish before the time came for collection.

After forming the contract, they were quiet, the humid air too stifling for Levi to form coherent thoughts. When they pulled into the Rals’ driveway, Eren parked the car neatly in the same spot Levi always did. That probably should have frightened him, but he was too tired to care. He didn’t even attempt to move from his seat as Eren cut the engine, the sudden silence broken only by the distant call of a lone coyote.

“Well, I’m beat,” Eren yawned, stretching out his arms. “It’s been quite a day, even before our little night excursion.”

Levi didn’t ask what Eren had been up to during the day; he was sure he didn’t want to know.

The kid shifted in his seat, running his eyes over Levi’s face unashamedly. He gestured to the bruises blooming across his nose and under both eyes. “You put ice on those, okay? Your face is too pretty to be all banged up like that.”

He popped the car door open and swung a leg out, but paused when Levi called his name. Turning back around, he regarded Levi inquisitively, eyes childlike in their curiosity.

Levi avoided his gaze, staring straight ahead with a frown. “You really saved my ass tonight. I would have died if you hadn’t been there. I appreciate that.” He paused. “I guess what I’m trying to say is…thanks.”

Levi barely caught the smile that stole over the kid’s face at the small confession. He flinched as Eren reached toward him, but the fingers that grazed his cheek were gentle, the caress of a lover rather than the hit he’d been expecting. They lingered over his cheekbone, the flesh heating beneath their touch.

“Take care of yourself, Levi,” Eren said softly, eyes as gentle as his touch. He slowly pulled away and was gone between one blink and the next.

Levi sat in the car for some time after that. There was a lot to think about---his duty, Kenny, Pixis, _her---_ but for the first time in a long while he wasn’t plotting out his next move or feeling sorry for himself. Instead, he was remembering the play of fingers along his skin, gentle but firm, soft but in no way hesitant. It had been unexpected and completely uncalled for, but he couldn’t deny that those hands had left behind a warmth he couldn’t shake.

The same hands had killed a man mere hours before, he reminded himself. Put a crowbar straight through his neck without a lick of remorse---okay, his stomach was rolling again, time to move on.

Grimacing, Levi dropped his head into is hands and then pulled back, disgusted. There was still dry blood caked on his face and it looked like it wouldn’t be coming off without a fight. 

Levi sighed. He guessed he’d been wrong about the job and bathing thing. He wasn’t going to take a shower when he got home. He was taking three.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading:)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had this chapter ready to go at noon yesterday, but then I reread it and hated it and decided to scrap it and completely rewrite the entire thing. It's still not perfect and is a day late, but I like it a TON better than what I had before. Sorry about the delay, but I'd rather put out something I'm happy with late than something crappy on time. Anyway, enjoy! 
> 
> P.S. Next week's chapter will still be on Sunday:)

The day after watching Eren grin as he whacked Pixis with a crowbar the same way someone else would after a successful swing with a golf club, Levi failed his Calc test.

It’s not that he didn’t understand the material; he often got by with cramming in the five minutes before class and rarely had trouble with his studies. In all honesty, that was probably the only reason he had decided to finish out his senior year. Before, he’d actually cared to do well in school so he could get some scholarships, go to a nice university, and make something of himself. Now he was barely going through the motions to avoid unnecessary attention and as an alibi if need be.

Sighing heavily, Levi slid lower in his seat, only just refraining from bouncing his knee under his desk. No, it wasn’t the actual problems themselves that were tripping him up on this test. Rather, he was just having difficulties concentrating on math when he was well aware that at any given moment he could be hauled off to jail for first degree (and second degree and probably a whole slew of degrees) murder.

And it was dumb. Levi knew he’d taken every precaution to make sure there was no way he’d ever be linked back to Maddie or Pixis. Not only that, but he had firsthand experience with the incompetency of the local police department, so he really shouldn’t have any worries (especially since any irregularities in his behavior would draw attention he couldn’t afford right now). It was easier said than done, however; being surrounded with the obnoxious mating rituals and social climbing of high schoolers was taxing on his nerves, and he’d spent the day’s entirety jumping at every loud noise and shying away from all human contact. He was just glad he’d always had a pretty convincing poker face (read: bitch glare) and had thus far managed to mask his anxiety. It was exhausting, though, and he was more than ready to just get home and sequester himself in the relative safety of his room for a while.

When his teacher finally dismissed the class, Levi felt some of the weight fall from his shoulders. Slapping the incomplete test on his teacher’s desk and ignoring the man’s glare (which, hey, Levi didn’t need to take that; at least he wasn’t reliving his high school glory days as a football coach who taught on the side), he made a beeline for the parking lot, thanking whatever god out there that seniors got to leave five minutes before the bell and he wouldn’t have to deal with the hell that was freshly minted high school drivers. He ignored any greetings from passing peers (admittedly there were very few students who attempted to talk with him anymore) and had nearly made it to his car before a call from behind halted him in his steps.

Shooting a glance behind him, he spit out a curse. He’d really thought he could make it through the day without any social interaction. Ah, to have come so close.

“Levi!” Farlan called again, sandy blond hair flopping in his eyes as he jogged to catch up to him. “I’m so glad I caught you!”

“That makes one of us.”

Farlan’s megawatt smile dimmed and Levi realized he’d said that out loud. Whoops.

“Um, sorry to bother you,” Farlan hedged, chin tucking and hand coming up to paw nervously at the back of his neck. “I…um…how have you been?”

Levi’s brow furrowed. Out of everything, that wasn’t what he had been expecting.

“Fine,” he replied, hoping the short answer would be enough to deter him; Levi _really_ didn’t want to have this conversation.

“Are you sure? What happened with, um…?” Farlan gestured to the bridge of his nose and Levi figured he meant the deep burgundy under both eyes and across the bridge of his nose.

“I fell.”

Farlan nodded, kicking nervously at the ground. “Okay.”

It had been a while since he had seen Farlan and he was honestly surprised at how poor he looked, eyes heavy and body gaunt in a way they had never been before. Levi almost worried that his cheekbones were going to pierce right through his skin, translucent as it was in the harsh light of the sun. Farlan seemed to hesitate now that he had Levi’s attention, posture awkward and eyes nervous, but Levi wasn’t about to say anything so it seemed that they’d come to a stalemate.

“Look, you have every right to be mad at me.”

Levi barely refrained from rolling his eyes. Oh God, so _this_ was where they were going.

“I’m not mad,” Levi was quick to interject, hoping to nip the conversation in the bud. “I just have things I need to do.” And by things, he meant a hot date with his bed and a bottle of aspirin.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m probably keeping you from something important.”

“Yes.” He never said he wasn’t an asshole.

Farlan flinched. “I just… I just wanted to say that if you ever need anything, I’m here. I know I was pretty crappy to you these past couple of months, but I just...” His gray eyes met Levi’s own, sparking in their sincerity. “I just want you to know that I’ll always be on your side.”

“How moving,” Levi deadpanned, considering throwing in a yawn for good measure. “Are you done now?”

Farlan’s eyes widened, mouth gaping for a second before his eyes narrowed. “You know, you don’t have to be so rude, Levi. If you don’t want to talk, you could just say.”

“I wanted to talk to you three months ago, Farlan,” Levi said, some of the hurt and anger and loneliness that had been festering in his chest bleeding into his tone, “but you were the one avoiding it then.”

Levi almost felt bad about the way Farlan’s shoulder dropped, guilt clear in his eyes. Almost.

“I’m sorry,” he said, avoiding Levi’s gaze. “I had a lot going on.”

“So did I.”

“Yeah, I know you did. A hell of a lot more than me.” Farlan glanced up to meet his eyes. “But that’s why I’m trying to be here for you now. If you need anything, I hope you know I’m still your friend.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t really have time for friends right now. Thanks but no thanks, Farlan.”

He started to turn, ready to be done with this conversation, when he felt a hand grab for his shoulder.

“Wait Levi!”

When he met Farlan’s eyes again, they weren’t filled with the righteous anger he’d been expecting. Instead, they bled with a desperation Levi himself was quite familiar with. It was the look of someone who was running out of time, not on his mortality but his morality, someone with a burden too large to carry by themselves.  

“Listen Levi, you should know something---”

“ _Levi_!”

Farlan jumped back as if he had been burned and they both turned as a large body slammed into Levi’s side and enveloped him in a hug. Levi clawed at the iron bands wrapping around his small frame, but Eren didn’t seem to want to let go.

“Oh my God, you’ve been in there for so _long_!” he crowed, rubbing his cheek into Levi’s hair. “I thought I would _die_ I missed you so much!”

“Get off me, Eren,” Levi snapped, struggling to no avail.

“Oh God, we have so much to do! Say bye bye to your little friend ‘cuz we’re leaving.”

He started dragging them both to the car, Levi’s feet barely touching the ground. Levi looked back just in time to see the hurt flash across Farlan’s face, but he didn’t take it to heart; Farlan had made it clear long ago how much he truly cared. Turning back around, he noticed Eren’s eyes laser focused behind them, a frightening amount of heat burning in his eyes.

“What are you doing?”

“Alpha glaring him into submission.”

Eren hadn’t even turned to respond and Levi rolled his eyes. “Why?”

“Because he touched you,” Eren said, arms tightening around Levi as if Farlan’s touch was something he could physically ward off. “I don’t like when people touch my things.”

Levi threw his arms off, finally escaping from his grasp. “That’s not---what are you even doing here?”

Eren finally glanced over at him, eyes wide as they blinked owlishly at him. “Waiting for you, of course. I missed you!”

“What, so you just hung around the school all day? What did you even do?”

Eren shrugged. “Some light reading.”

He tossed a magazine across the hood of the car and Levi only spied something about mind blowing sex moves and sexy hairstyles for fall before he reared back. “Cosmo? Really?”

Eren leaned over the top of the car, leering up at him from beneath his eyelashes. “You’d be surprised, Levi. Their material can be surprisingly educational.”

Levi rolled his eyes. He wasn’t even surprised at this point.

“Besides,” Eren continued, grinning wryly. “I spent most of the day watching you.”

And if Eren wasn’t already creepy enough before… Levi shook his head tiredly, dropping down into his car and slamming the door. Eren slid into the passenger seat beside him, smile splitting his face and eyes dancing excitedly.

“Okay, so what now?”

Surprised at the sudden turn in Eren’s mood, Levi cocked an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Where are we gonna go?” he said, nearly bouncing in his seat. “I feel like we’re in some super suave action movie and now we have to go out and collect clues. Where are we going first? The police station? A graveyard?”

“Uh, the library?”

Eren reared back as if he had been hit. “ _Ew_.”

Levi rolled his eyes. “Don’t be such a baby, we have a lot to check out. I have an idea which Leonhart Pixis was talking about, but I really need to do some research first.” Hopefully he’d be proven wrong; if it was Leonhart as in _Annie_ Leonhart, not even Eren would be able to help him.

Eren still looked like he’d swallowed a lemon, mouth twisted in clear disgust. “Yeah, but can we research somewhere other than the library? That place is so _boring_.”

“Well if you get bored I’m sure they have an issue of Cosmo you can read.”

“Yeah, at the risk of my own sanity,” Eren whined pathetically, throwing an arm over his face. “Levi if you loved me at all you wouldn’t abuse me like this!”

Levi ignored the wounded sounds coming from the passenger seat, starting his car and pulling out of the parking lot.

“Yeah, well I don’t see you coming up with any great suggestions.”

“Not the library.”

Not even sparing that one a passing glare, Levi turned onto the street that would take them downtown. He didn’t care how much Eren whined; he was doing this his way, with or without help from the kid.

Suddenly something warm and wet laved at his neck, hot breath puffing against the shell of his ear and making Levi shiver.

“What the hell are you---” he began, but cut off brokenly when Eren swirled his tongue in his ear.

“ _Levi_ ,” he breathed, and Levi suddenly had the feeling he shouldn’t be driving. “Levi, please don’t make me go to the library.”

“Fucking hell, Eren,” Levi groused, pushing the other back into his seat. Eren growled at him, crossing his arms and pouting.

“I don’t want to go, Levi! You can’t make me.”

God, he was planning assassinations with the equivalent of a three year old.

Levi rubbed at the spit in his ear, grimacing. “Well, we need information, so you’re going to have to suck it up---”

“Oh!” Eren cut him off, straightening in his seat. “I have a much better idea!”

“If it’s ‘not the library’ again, I think you can keep it to yourself.”

“No! It’s so obvious, I can’t believe you didn’t think of it before!” Eren exclaimed and Levi narrowed his eyes. Anything that had the kid that excited was probably bad news for him. “Who do you think has access to the largest information network in the whole county, Levi?”

Levi tore his eyes from the road, catching the manic glint in the other’s golden eyes, before he abruptly stiffened. “No. No way, Eren.”

“Yes way!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air. “You even live with him, Levi! All we’d have to do is take a little snoop through his office; he won’t even know!”

“Nope. Don’t even think about it.”

It was probably true that the sheriff had access to every record they could possibly need, but it wasn’t worth the risk of being caught in his office; he and Petra had both been told explicitly that they weren’t allowed to even enter the room, the casefiles he had so sensitive he could lose his job if the information was ever leaked. Sure, Levi thought it a tad overboard (how important could cases in Podunk, Missouri, really be?), but he owed the sheriff a lot and wasn’t about to betray that trust when there was a perfectly good (if not a tad _boring_ ) library down the street.

Beside him, Eren whined again. “Come on, Levi. Think of how much more information we’ll get! There’s only so much you can find through search engines. The sheriff has been working these cases for months; I’m sure he has a ton of useful stuff. We could have this Leonhart chick by tonight!”

Every word had Levi’s resolve weakening. It would be much easier and he sure as fuck was on a time crunch.

“Okay,” he finally acquiesced, but continued to talk over Eren’s victorious cheering. “But we’re setting up some ground rules.”

“Great! I always love a good kink negotiation.”

Levi grimaced, cutting off a couple lanes of traffic to make a U-turn.

“First,” he began, “don’t wander off. If I turn around and you’re not right behind me, the deals over.”

Eren nodded diligently. “Step where you step, got it.”

“Second, do exactly as I say. This is my house and my contract, so everything is my call.”

Another nod. “Complete obedience. Woof.”

Levi resisted an eye roll. “And finally, if anyone is home, you get the fuck out of there. I don’t want you anywhere near the sheriff or Petra.” He glanced up at Eren, trying to look as dead serious as possible. “That goes for anytime. You can’t talk to them even if you see them in town.”

“Okay, you don’t want me to meet the family yet. Okey doke.”

“I’m serious, Eren,” Levi said, eyes shining darkly. “They’re off limits.”

“Understood.”

They held eye contact for a couple more moments, an intensity sparking in the air, before Levi returned his eyes to the road. He still felt the heat of a pair of eyes on him and he sighed..

“What?”

Eren didn’t miss a beat. “What did you tell everyone about your face?”

“I said I slipped in the shower.”

Eren barked out a laugh, tone incredulous. “And they believed you? Even the sheriff? Wow, I don’t think we have anything to fear from the police department around here, huh?”

Levi grinded his teeth, but didn’t respond. Eren wasn’t wrong, but Levi didn’t like the way he dismissed the sheriff so casually. Tony and Petra had seemed upset when he’d first come down the stairs that morning, but had laughed good naturedly when he had “explained” what happened. He kind of felt bad about the easy way he’d lied and the even easier way they’d accepted it, but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth; he was just glad they hadn’t gotten any more suspicious.

After a couple more turns, the car hit the gravel road that led straight up to the ranch and it wasn’t long before they were pulling up the winding driveway. The sheriff’s spot was blessedly empty and Levi thanked whatever lucky stars he still had that Petra was at some Girl Scout meeting or whatever preteen girls did these days.

A barking greeted them as they both climbed out of the car and Levi allowed his version of a smile to crawl across his face as a fluffy white monstrosity bounded up to them. Duke enthusiastically wagged his tail and pawed at Levi’s chest before catching sight of Eren. Dropping back to all fours, Duke barred his teeth menacingly, throaty growl raising the hairs on the back of Levi’s neck.

“Hey, what’s up with you?” he chided, backing away from the snarling dog, but the growling only got worse the closer he got to Eren. Eren’s mouth turned down in a pout as he regarded Duke.

“You know, your behavior hurts me on a personal level,” he said, hands coming to rest on his hips as he cocked his head. “Growling is a very hurtful thing to do.”

Levi almost didn’t believe it, but a low rumble began to sound from his throat and suddenly Duke was cowered low to the ground, tail tucked and whining pitifully from the muzzle pressed into the dirt. Eren grinned cheerfully. “See? Hurtful.”

Turning towards a shocked Levi, he said, “What did I tell ya, Levi? Alpha glare them into submission.”

And with a wink he was sauntering up the driveway.

Levi crouched down and dug his fingers into Duke’s coat, trying to calm the shaking dog. He sighed. What the fuck had he gotten himself into?

***

It took them ages to make it up to the sheriff’s office, but not for lack of effort on Levi’s part.

It seemed that Eren was obsessed with everything in the house, from the window curtains to the little knick knacks left over from the sheriff’s wife. He kept stopping and fretting every time his eye caught something new and Levi was starting to get a little agitated at their slow pace through the house.

“Are you serious?” Levi sighed as Eren bent over yet another table, a hand coming to rest on his chin. “Haven’t you already seen all this before?”

“Yeah,” Eren breathed, eyes raptly studying a set of star-shaped coasters. “But never during the daytime.”

And that… well.

“Come on,” he said, hauling Eren up the flight of stairs and towards the office at the end of the hallway. “It’s all just normal house stuff. Nothing you haven’t had before.”

“I haven’t.”

Levi paused, turning to stare up into Eren’s eyes. “Haven’t what?”

“Had normal house stuff,” Eren shrugged. “I never really had a home to have house stuff in.”

Levi’s eyes widened, but Eren had already turned to examine some of the pictures on the walls. He hadn’t really spared a thought to what Eren’s past was like, thought he hadn’t wanted to, but there was something about a little boy with great big golden eyes living in an orphanage or being bounced around through foster home after foster home that pricked at his chest and lodged as an uncomfortable ache between his lungs. The sudden urge to ask about Eren’s past overcame him, but then Eren was chuckling at a picture and he was remembering that it didn’t matter, _Eren_ didn’t matter, because they were working together for the moment but Levi had much bigger priorities than the kid’s childhood traumas.

He shook his head, grabbing Eren’s sleeve again and marching them both down the hallway. Pushing them both into the office, Levi made a beeline for the large mahogany desk in the center of the room while Eren explored the filing cabinets lining the perimeter.

“So what are we looking for, exactly?”

Levi dug through a stack of papers, taking care not to disturb anything else. “Anything mentioning a woman with the last name Leonhart.”

Eren hummed, pawing through a group of folders. “You know, it would be easier if you just told me what we were looking for in general. Like, what our endgame is for this entire little mission.”

Levi’s fingers faltered in their search, body seizing up with Eren’s subtle prod. He’d been lucky that Eren hadn’t gotten curious (or at least hadn’t voiced his curiosity) yet, but it looked like that luck had run dry. Instead of answering, he continued in his search, hoping that his silence would act as answer enough. Apparently it did, because Eren didn’t push for anything else.

They spent a couple more minutes perusing the files the sheriff kept at home. Almost all of them were ongoing narcotic investigations, something that didn’t surprise Levi in the slightest. What did surprise him, however, was how little information there was available about missing persons cases. Levi knew of at least two in the last six months alone, and the sheriff had been working like crazy on them (or so he told Levi). With all of the attention the cases held, he would have thought the sheriff would be working on them at home as well. It almost pissed him off, but he pacified himself with the knowledge that the cases may have been at the station instead.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud slam from below. Levi’s gaze jerked up, wide eyes meeting Eren’s unconcerned ones.

“That would be the sheriff, I’d wager,” the kid said coolly, flipping through another file.

Levi wound both hands through the strands of his hair. “Shit, shit!” he hissed, dropping his arms to frantically tidy up the desk he’d been sorting through. Stumbling back, he lunged for Eren, pulling him towards the door. He jerked to a halt when he heard the heavy thump of boots on the steps down the hall.

“Fuck, he’ll see us, we can’t go out there.”

They couldn’t stay in the room either; if the sheriff found Levi there he would never trust him to be alone in the house again. Hell, he probably wouldn’t trust him to be in the house at all. Levi shot a look around the room, but besides the desk and the filing cabinets it was empty.

“Looks like we should hide,” Eren said, seemingly indifferent to the entire situation.  Levi made to shoot him a scathing glare, but Eren dragged him over to the desk and promptly pulled him under it. He crammed them both into the small space below, covered on three sides by wood paneling and the opening cut deep with a low overhang.

It seemed they had reached the hiding spot just in time, because the door opened as soon as Levi pulled his feet under. They both listened to the thump of the sheriff’s footsteps as he strode deeper into the room, stopping just where they could see his boots and the bottom of his trousers. Levi could only hope that the man wouldn’t sit down, and some higher deity must have been listening because the sheriff threw something down on the desk before striding over to a filing cabinet.

Levi’s heart beat a hard rhythm on his ribcage, lungs aching to follow the pace. His legs were bent so that his knees nearly grazed his face and his body pressed so close against Eren’s the kid’s chest made long line of heat up his back. For once in his life he was thankful he was so small; there was no way they would have both fit if he was the same size as Eren.

The sheriff ambled back to his desk and Levi shrunk farther back into the space. He knew Eren probably felt the way his heart was racing out of his chest, because he could feel the kid’s own slow, steady beat against his own back. It almost served to calm him, but before he could settle into the feeling, a soft pressure grazed over his arm and down his wrist.

Levi startled so hard he almost knocked an elbow against the paneling. Really, the fucker was going to try something at a time like this? Turning, he sent Eren one of his most unimpressed glares, mouth pulling taut with the force of his agitation. Eren merely shrugged, faux innocent expression not fooling either of them in the slightest.

A phantom touch ghosted across Levi’s lower stomach, making it jump, and this time Levi knew it was no accident with the pleased way Eren’s lips curled up at the edges. When Levi slowly mouthed out the word “stop,” Eren’s grin grew and he languidly slid a hand up Levi’s side. Squirming, Levi felt his face heat even as his eyes narrowed, and it took all he had not to punch Eren in that stupid grinning mouth. The sheriff was still shuffling around the desk though, and Levi knew he was exactly where Eren wanted him.

 When a finger trailed lazily up the inside of his thigh, Levi decided enough was enough. He dug his fingernails into the meat of Eren’s arm, hard enough to leave angry red crescent moons in his skin. Eren’s mouth dropped in surprise, eyes wide in the type of shock you couldn’t feign, before he was suddenly grinning even brighter than before. Levi could almost hear the dirty thoughts running through his mind as he leered down at him.

And then there was a hand cupping him firmly through his jeans and Levi was hissing out in surprise, sparks running up his entire body. Eren smiled sweetly at him, adjusting his hold, and Levi threw a hand over his mouth to keep from gasping. No one had ever touched him there before and he wanted to scream because _of course_ it would be an unfeeling sociopath, but he couldn’t move or think through the red haze of adrenaline and flickering arousal clouding his mind.

Obviously not satisfied with Levi’s reactions yet, Eren began fucking _kneading_ and Levi couldn’t help the strangled sound that hissed from his throat. Both froze at the noise, Levi shoving his face in Eren’s shoulder as they both waited with bated breath for the sheriff to react. It took several moments, but the man finally shuffled through a couple more papers and Levi sagged in relief. Eren’s hand didn’t move from its position, but it had stopped moving and Levi was too afraid of more noise to try to remove it. His face felt like it was on fire, cheeks so red they might burn a hole in Eren’s shirt. It was likely the worst situation he’d ever been in, and the night before he’d watched someone get a crowbar through the neck.

After what seemed like a millennium in his own personal hell, Levi heard the sheriff shuffle a couple more papers together and walk to the door. It swung open and then clicked shut, and Levi waited for the slam of the front door before ripping himself out from underneath the table and whirling on Eren as he leisurely unfolded himself from the floor.

“What the _fuck_ was that?” he barked, body thrumming with unbridled rage (and probably some lingering arousal, but that really wasn’t his fault, right?).

Eren shrugged and Levi felt his fists clench harder. “You’re so tempting, Levi. I couldn’t help myself when you practically threw yourself at me like that.”

“Threw myself at---we were hiding, you idiot! From the sheriff, who, need I remind you, could have us both hauled off to jail for tampering with police evidence and several counts of first fucking degree murder!”

“Yeah, but I think you liked it, Levi,” he purred, trailing his eyes down Levi’s body. “More than you’re letting on.”

Levi’s blush deepened (and how was that even possible at this point?) and he turned away. Both arms wrapped around his waist as he tried to garner some control over himself. God, this day was just proving to be a complete shit show. Could he ever catch a break?

“Oh, by the way,” Eren continued, oblivious to Levi’s anguish, “Papa Sheriff dropped off some folders over here and I think they’re exactly what we were looking for. Does the name Annie Leonhart ring a bell?”

Levi’s face drained of color (good riddance, blush) and he whirled around to yank the sheet out of Eren’s hand. It was an arrest record, sealed by the looks of it, and the name Leonhart was slapped all over it. The amount of charges dealing with assault and drug possession all pointed to someone deep in the dealing business. Levi flipped through the sheets behind it, all individuals with similar records.

Levi huffed out a sigh. If the sheriff was taking the time to dig up sealed juvenile arrest records, they had to be important and the name Leonhart couldn’t just be a coincidence. Fuck, Annie Leonhart had been looking for Kenny and that only spelled out bad news for him.

“So when are we going after her?”

Levi sighed again, eyes drooping tiredly as he met Eren’s eager gaze.

“We’re not.”

Eren blinked. “But we have all this shit on her now. Look, there’s even an address on this one.”

He tried to pull up another sheet of paper, but Levi batted his hand away. “No, we’re not going after her. She’s… she’s fucked up. I saw her once and… we’re not going after her.”

Eren’s brows furrowed. “Then what did we even come here for? Was it all just a waste?”

“Actually, it wasn’t.” He held up another sheet of paper and Eren craned his neck to read it. “I think we have everything we need.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading:)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been completely overwhelmed by the amount of support this story has gotten! You guys have left such great feedback and are seriously the best! Thanks for the continued support:)

_“Are you fucking kidding me?”_

_“Hmmm?” Levi hummed, not quite ready to open his eyes yet as he enjoyed the warm play of sun across his skin. It was one of those rare days where the sun shone hot in the sky but no humidity marred the fresh wind that ruffled through his hair like a caress. He dug his fingers into the grass below, angling his head back to better breathe in the hot haze of summer._

_Beside him, he felt a stirring in the grass._

_“Listen to this: ‘I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.’ Now what kind of shit is that?”_

_Levi hummed, losing himself in the far off buzz of cicadas. “I think it’s supposed to be romantic.”_

_“Yeah okay, but what’s romantic about this: ‘Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!’ This is not the good wholesome love I learned from Barney.”_

_Levi chuckled, finally opening his eyes and turning to peer down at the form sprawled across the lawn beside him._

_“You have to keep in mind that the book was written by a lonely school teacher in the 1800’s. Barney wasn’t around back then to teach her the ‘I Love You’ song.”_

_Snickering, Farlan dropped the novel to his chest. “Speaking of lonely school teachers,” he said, gray eyes lighting up mischievously, “do you think Ms. Graves assigned us this as punishment for correcting her in class all last year?”_

_“Mmm, no,” Levi said, tapping a finger at his chin. “I’d say it’s more that she already has to spend the summer alone so she wants us to feel her pain. You know, shared suffering and all that.”_

_Farlan groaned, settling the open book across his face and sprawling his limbs out. “It’s just not fair! All I wanted to do this summer was absolutely nothing and instead I get stuck with more schoolwork. This book doesn’t even have a sex scene!”_

_He sounded so aggrieved that Levi had to laugh, chin tucking as he tried to hide it in his shirt collar. Farlan noticed, reaching up to punch him in the side._

_“Feel bad for me, dammit!”_

_“Why would I?” Levi said, turning to peer over his shoulder haughtily. “I already did my summer reading.”_

_Levi could feel rather than see Farlan’s eye roll. “Yeah, cuz you’re a teacher’s pet.”_

_Levi smacked a hand over the book on Farlan’s face, earning him a fair degree of flailing and another punch to the side. Grinning, Levi returned his gaze to the sky._

_“Anyway,” Farlan huffed, tossing the book to the side and peering up at him curiously, “where’s the kid?”_

_Levi shrugged. “Probably in the house skulking. She’s been in a bad mood all morning.”_

_“Does it have anything to do with Kenny?”_

_“Probably. I’ve been trying to keep her out of his way, but she always finds a time to argue with him.”_

_“Yeah, that sounds like her,” he said, ripping up a patch of grass and letting it sift through his fingers. “What’s he been up to lately?”_

_Levi snorted. “Fuck if I know. He’s been is some super shady shit lately, messing with some huge family in the city, the Reiss’ or some shit. Normally I don’t give a fuck, but at this rate he’s going to get us all killed.”_

_“Aw, you’d never let that happen, Lev,” Farlan grinned, eyes lighting up. “Kenny has taught you far too much for you to just die.”_

_Chuckling, Levi fell to the grass beside him. “You have no idea, Farlan. Last week he drags me to the basement and hands me a knife blade, telling me we’re going to practice severing spinal cords.” Farlan laughed and Levi aimed a kick at his legs. “No, listen! He pulls out this mannequin head he probably bought off Darla down at Great Clips and starts frickin’ stabbing it in the back of the neck. I kid you not, he’s looking at me and spewing out shit like ‘Two inches below the hairline, Levi’ and ‘Not too soft or you’ll just paralyze them’ and all the while he’s getting little Styrofoam pieces stuck on his mouth.”_

_Farlan clutched at his stomach, laughing so hard tears caught at the edges of his eyes. Levi couldn’t resist his infectious smile, chuckling a little himself._

_“Well,” Farlan managed to say between wheezes, “I suppose you’ve gotta learn how to carry on the family business.”_

_Levi rolled his eyes. “Oh, of what? Being a complete waste of life?”_

_“No, being an alcoholic, drug dealing, debt-ridden son of a bitch.”_

_Levi snorted, but the words rang a little too true. He rolled to his back, throwing both arms above his head and sighing heavily. The sky was a deep azure, clouds so impeccably white he almost didn’t believe them real._

_“I’m never going to be like him,” he said, eyes fixed heavenward. “Or get stuck in this fucking town. We’re gonna get out of here, all three of us, even if it kills us in the end.”_

_He swiveled his head, grass tickling his cheek as he caught Farlan’s eye. His friend was smiling at him fondly, eyes soft under the fringe of his bangs._

_“Well,” he said, “you know wherever you go, I won’t be far behind.”_

_Levi blinked before tentatively returning the smile. Though he’d been his best friend for years, Farlan’s sincerity still sometimes knocked the breath out of him. Not for the first time, he wondered what kind of amazing things he’d done in a past life to earn the friendship of the bright eyed boy in front of him; there was no doubt in his mind he’d be lost without him._

_“If only cuz I gotta ogle that fine ass of yours.”_

_“Fuckin’ hell, Farlan!” Levi moaned, face coloring under his hands as Farlan laughed. The glare he sent him through fingers seemed to only encourage him and Levi threw an arm over his head._

_“You suck.”_

_“Only if the price is right.”_

_This time Levi laughed with him, the sound of their combined amusement rising and getting tangled in the boughs of the large tree swaying above them. Levi stretched out in the grass, his grin stretching his mouth so much his cheeks hurt._

_“Hey guys, what’s so funny?”_

_A sweet soprano voice from behind had both boys sitting up. Levi turned, fond smile coming to his lips as he saw---_

\---the side of his bed, the ugly shag of his carpet, the nightstand as he brought it down with his fall. He didn’t have time to catch his bearings before he was sprinting for the bathroom and clutching at the toilet seat as he heaved up the contents of his stomach. It had been too long since he’d eaten and all that came up was acid that burned the entire way up his throat. He hung over the bowl, too tired to even wipe the strings of saliva from his lips, before he was heaving again. It took a tortuously long time, but his stomach finally stopped rolling enough for him to lean back and flush.

Cradling his head in the crook of his arm, he rested his body against the lid. Tremors racked his body, a soreness settling deep in his bones and causing him to curl more tightly into himself against the cold seeping from the floor tiles. He distantly realized his cheeks were wet, tears mixing with the snot running freely from his nose, but he wasn’t sure if he was crying or if they were from the stress of vomiting.

He almost wanted to laugh. It was typical that one of his best memories from before had come back to bite him in the ass so hard. It wasn’t even that the dream had (so kindly) reminded him of a time he had been trying to forget, but that it had felt so _real._ For a moment, Levi had been happy again. Things then weren’t perfect, nothing in his life ever had been, but they had been some of the best years he could remember and having that small taste of it and thinking he could be happy again was like giving a recovering heroin addict a single hit and expecting them to be satisfied with sobriety.

So lost in his own thoughts, it took Levi a while to realize there were fingers tenderly threading through his hair. His heart sank; Petra must have heard the crash he’d made getting out of bed and come to investigate. It really wasn’t fair to her to deal with this. Looking up, he prepared to use his tried and true catchphrase---No really, I’m _fine_ \--- and send her back to bed, but the words died on his tongue as the silver of his eyes met gold.

“What the hell?” he hissed, wrenching himself from that soft grip and pushing himself against the wall. Eren’s hand was still stretched out between them, eyes wide as he blinked down at him. He tried to move closer, but Levi flinched, feet sliding against the slick tiles as he attempted to push himself further into the wall.

“What the _fuck_ are you doing here?” he whispered, throwing as much venom into the hushed words as he could.

Eren threw up a placating hand. “Listen, you were having a nightmare and I was trying to help you---”

“That doesn’t explain why you were here in the first place!” Terror coursed through his veins, reigniting the lingering adrenaline from his nightmare. Fuck, had Eren been trying to kill him in the night? Levi froze, his heart thumping painfully in his chest. Had he been going after the Ralls?

“Levi, Levi, calm down!” Eren’s soft tenor cut through the haze of fear clouding his mind and he distantly realized he might have started hyperventilating. “I just sometimes check in on you, it’s no big deal.”

Levi gritted his teeth. “It is a big deal, you piece of shit! What if the sheriff came in and saw you? Or worse, Petra!”

Eren narrowed his eyes, head tilting. “Do you really believe I’d let them, Levi? You know I’m smarter than that. Besides.” He ran his eyes down Levi’s trembling form, clad only in a thin t-shirt and boxers. A sadness clouded his features. “I’m glad I’m here. It looks like you needed me.”

Levi huffed, averting his eyes---he didn’t need _anyone_ \---but then Eren stood and his gaze snapped right back. The kid rustled around in the cabinet for a moment before pulling out a washcloth and wetting it. Kneeling in front of Levi, he gingerly reached forward with the fabric and Levi flinched violently.

“What are you doing?” he said, eyeing the washcloth warily. For all he knew, Eren could have doused it with chloroform when he wasn’t looking, didn’t even put it past him at this point.

“Shhh,” Eren soothed, movements slow and calculated. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Levi didn’t believe that for a second, but couldn’t find the will to protest as Eren moved closer again and lightly brushed the cloth against his face. It was warm, pleasantly so, and as Eren lightly ran it across his face he could feel the tension seeping out of his muscles. It left him a limp pile of limbs on the bathroom floor, but he was too exhausted to care.  

“Why are you doing this?” he mumbled as Eren carefully wiped the last of his tears away. “Yesterday you were fucking with me and now you want to act like you actually care.”

“I’m not acting,” Eren replied, tone just as soft as his touch. “I was joking around yesterday, but this is serious. I don’t like seeing you hurt.”

Levi’s face finally clean enough for his standards, Eren dropped the hand holding the washcloth. His other hand was right there to replace it, however, warm fingers smoothing down the side of Levi’s face and settling in the crook of his neck.

“Now, you want to tell me what that dream was about?”

Levi dropped his gaze. Eren’s wide eyed gaze was too earnest, held too much singled minded attention. Levi was used to being the one who took the time to listen to others, never getting the chance to share in return, and it was honestly unnerving to have someone’s full bodied attention.

Eren must have sensed his hesitance, because he shifted and hedged, “Was it a nightmare?”

Levi shrugged. “Sort of.  I just…” He closed his eyes, shook his head. “Seeing Farlan today just brought up some old memories. Ones I’d rather forget.”

Fuck, he hadn’t meant to say that. He must have been more shaken up than he’d realized. Opening his eyes, he noticed a brief flare of something hot in Eren’s eyes, but before he could identify it the kid was stroking his neck with the fingers at his throat.

“I’m sorry, Levi.”

Levi shook his head again. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me,” Eren said, fingers searing a line up his throat. “I care about you, Levi. I hate when you’re hurting like this.”

Levi’s mouth clicked shut at that, silencing the taunt he had been readying to throw. Eren was gazing at him openly, eyes sparking with an earnestness that chipped away at a callous in Levi’s chest. His expression was sincere, just as sincere as the one Farlan had been wearing in his memory and---

Well, Levi knew what kind of sincerity a mask like that really held. He’d been fooled one too many times by great big pleading eyes and pretty words and he wasn’t about to be tricked again.

Jerking from Eren’s hold and ignoring the pang in his heart at the kid’s hurt expression, he climbed to his feet. His legs still felt unsteady beneath him, his vision dimming briefly as the blood rushed to his head, and he probably would have stumbled had he not grabbed roughly for the sink. Eren reached out, looking like he wanted to help, but Levi indignantly wiped at his nose and strode around him and back into his room.

He pulled on an old pair of jeans and swapped shirts before grabbing the backpack he’d prepared the night before. It was already starting to lighten outside and the dull rays of the sun burned his eyes when he threw open the curtains.

“While we’re up, might as well start heading to the city,” he grunted, sliding the window open. He moved back and hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Out.”

Eren’s mouth pulled uncertainly as his eyebrows furrowed. “Are you sure you’re ready for this? I mean, you were just hunched over the toilet, Levi.”

“I’m fine,” he said, but what he meant was “I can’t deal with this right now so stop talking please.”

Eren’s eyes roamed over his features for a moment before his trademark grin made its first appearance of the morning. “Well, that’s a relief! I’m fucking excited about this!”

Levi resisted the urge to roll his eyes as Eren practically skipped to the window, somber demeanor cast away without a thought. Throwing a leg over the window sill, he turned back to Levi, the morning sun lighting a fire in his eyes.

“Where do you want me?”

Ignoring the leer thrown his way, Levi said, “Down the street. I’ll come pick you up in a minute.”

“What are you going to do?”

Levi sighed. “Lie to a walking polygraph machine.”

“Oh,” Eren said, mouth pursing around the word, before he grinned. “Well, good luck with that!”

And with that he was out the window.

Once he was gone, Levi let his shoulders drop and his head fall into his hands. The lingering panic from his dream still cycled weakly through his veins and Eren’s little Care Bear moment had only served to muddle his mind even more. His head ached and his heart hurt and his limbs felt so heavy he thought they’d pull him into an early grave and all he really wanted to do at the moment was crawl back into bed and sleep for the rest of his life. That wasn’t an option, though. He had a million things to do, at least one waiting below to be hoodwinked, so he instead dragged his tired body down the stairs toward where he could hear the sheriff preparing his morning cup of coffee.

“Hey Levi!” the man greeted cheerfully. “You’re up early, I see.”

Levi shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep.”

He didn’t even have to put on the dull cast to his eyes as he shuffled in beside the sheriff and poured his own cup of sludge. Frowning, the man regarded him with a worried tilt to his head as Levi downed the cup in one go; he hated coffee, a fact everyone in the house was well aware of.

“You feelin’ alright, son?”

 Levi nodded, reeling back his grimace as he drained another cup. The sheriff placed a comforting palm on his shoulder, one that he visibly tensed under, and turned him so they were face to face. Levi knew he looked like shit, but the sheriff’s widened eyes still dealt a blow to his ego.

“Hey, you aren’t lookin’ so good, kid,” he said, hand tightening on Levi’s shoulder. It weighed too heavy there, the skin beneath itching at the contact, and Levi desperately wanted to throw it off.  “Maybe you should take the day off, get in some more rest.”

Levi shook his head. “No, I can’t miss any more school.”

“Don’t worry about that,” the sheriff said, concern so prominent in his eyes that Levi had to glance away in guilt. “I’m the sheriff; I’ll call you in myself.”

Levi hunched his shoulders, gaze fixed off to the side as he pretended to think about the proposition. Once he’d deemed it long enough, he blinked tiredly back up at the sheriff. “Maybe I do need a little break.”

Patting him on the shoulder, the sheriff smiled and led him over to a barstool. “Good man. I’m on shift all day, but Pet will be home sometime early afternoon. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call, okay?”

Levi nodded, a new wave of guilt settling in the pit of his stomach with the rest. He didn’t deserve the kindness of this family, especially since all they did was care for him in a way no one else ever had. Clearing his throat, he tried to speak past the gravel in his throat.

“Thank you.”

It was simple and not even very nice as far as gratifications went, but the sheriff still stopped in his tracks and smiled warmly at him. Damn, did he really say thank you so little that it warranted such a reaction?

“Anytime, kid,” he said warmly before grabbing his coffee and slinging his bag over his shoulder. “Now you head on up and get some rest.”

He breezed past Levi and out the front door. Levi sat with his head in his hands, fighting off the debilitating guilt until he deemed it long enough for the man to have left. Following along in his steps, he made it out to his car and shut himself inside.

He was probably going to go to hell for all of this (as if he wasn’t already going after murdering Maddie), but today really wasn’t a day he could afford to be distracted. Sighing, he counted back from ten with the intent to empty his mind. It seemed to work, mind blessedly clear after eight counts, and he pulled the car out of the driveway and began looking for Eren. He didn’t see him anywhere along the road and made it all the way to the stop sign at the end before raking a hand through his hair and cursing; he should have known not to let the kid out of his sight.

“Where the fuck are you?” he whispered, scanning the surrounding fields.

“Right here, of course!”

Levi nearly took the car off the road he jerked so badly. He put a hand to his forehead as a messy head of hair popped up from the backseat.

“Fuck Eren, stop _doing_ that!”

“Doing what?”

“Popping up out of fucking nowhere,” Levi growled, anger rising in the wake of Eren’s angelic smile. “You almost took us off the road.”

“No, _you_ almost took us off the road,” Eren said, climbing into the passenger seat and propping his feet on the dash. “I would have been an unfortunate casualty.”

Levi glared at the converse sitting so primly on his dash, but Eren chose to ignore his agitation in favor of humming happily. The kid nearly vibrated in his seat, he looked so excited.

“Stop fidgeting,” Levi said, chancing a glance at Eren’s Cheshire grin.

Sitting up, Eren drummed a rhythm on his thighs. “I can’t help it, Levi! I’m just so excited! It’s our first mission together; it’s gonna be awesome!”

Levi huffed, checking his shoulder as he pulled out of town. “We’re talking with a potential witness, not cracking the case. We probably won’t even be gone two hours.”

“But we’re working together,” Eren sighed, gazing dreamily out the window. “We’re like a modern day Bonnie and Clyde. It’s so romantic!”

“That doesn’t even make sense---”

“Besides,” Eren continued, shooting him a wink. “You never know what will happen. We might see some action today yet.”

“No, we will _not_ be seeing any action, because _you_ are going to let me lead here.” He shot Eren a steal eyed look, mouth hard. “We’re not going to attract attention and we’re not going to kill anyone. This is just for some information, got it?”

Eren shrugged. “Okay. But if he starts getting mouthy I can’t guarantee I won’t stab him a little.”

At Levi’s glare, Eren threw up his arms. “I said a little! Fine, I won’t kill him, geez.”

Levi shook his head, turning onto the interstate. He wouldn’t have brought Eren along, but he had a feeling he might need protection today. The witness, Connie Springer, was some low hanging drug runner for a little known gang in the south side. Levi honestly thought he was a waste of space, but the kid also doubled as an informant for the police when the price was right so he had some value. Levi didn’t think he’d give them any trouble, but he was still taking every precaution. If that meant risking more homicide by bringing Eren along, well, the kid seemed like he was pretty good at taking care of the aftermath.

The rest of the car ride passed relatively peacefully, and by peacefully he meant with Eren chattering about everything that came into view.

“Oh my God, Levi! Look at the baby cows! Oh God, they’re so cute! Too bad they’ll be hamburgers soon.”

“Okay, okay, I know construction workers are just doing their jobs, but when they stand so close to the road like that they’re basically begging to be hit, right?”

“Oh man, that guy just cut you off! Are you gonna take that? Look at him, look---hey asshole! Yeah, this finger is for you!”

By the time they reached the city, Levi had already considered taking them both off the road and just ending it several times over. The only thing saving their lives was the fact that both sides of the highway were lined with farmland and he’d hate to destroy someone’s crops or take out a baby cow; they deserved to not be hamburger for as long as possible.

They arrived in the city about an hour before their meeting with Connie, and Levi spent nearly half that time looking for a parking space. When they finally found one, they meandered through the busy streets, Eren alpha glaring at anyone who wandered too close to Levi. Levi rolled his eyes every time it happened, but he wasn’t going to lie and say that the added protection didn’t make him feel safer.

The closer they got to their meeting place, the dirtier the streets became. On either side, the buildings looked as if they’d been through an air raid, falling apart in a way that spoke of years of neglect. The air smelled of spoiled milk, heavy with the combined rank of too many people in one place. Levi easily recognized the figures that passed them by, having seen hundreds just like them pass through Kenny’s house. They were dirty, desperate, and had a meanness in their bones that spelled danger for any who crossed them.

Eren looked to be perfectly at ease in the streets. He smiled at everyone they passed, even the ones that glared at him shiftily, and oohed and ahhed at the squalor around them. Levi, on the other hand, fucking hated it. He hated people and he hated dirt and he just wanted this to be done so he could go home and wallow in his guilt.

It was a relief when they finally reached the address Connie had given him over the phone. They both gazed up at the tall building and Eren snorted.

“A church, really?”

Levi silently agreed with him. The abandoned church was massive, windows and doors all boarded up and paint peeling down the sides. As tall as it was, the steeple looked like it was one strong wind from blowing over, wood so rotted it looked charred. It was extremely fucking dramatic and Levi expected no less from an idiot who willingly went by the name Connie.

“Welp,” Eren said, strutting up to the entrance and breaking the lock on the front door. “No time like the present.”

Levi followed along behind, a hesitance to his steps. “This doesn’t feel at all like a setup to you?”

“Of course it does,” Eren chirped. He pushed the door open and gestured Levi through. “I’m just waiting for someone to jump out so I can bust some kneecaps. It feels like a busting kneecap day, ya know?”

“Not really,” Levi disdained and Eren shrugged.

“Personal opinion, I guess.”

Ignoring the fervent grin Eren sported, Levi stepped into the entryway. The way the ceiling was fissured, a surprising amount of light made its way into the building, and the church’s features were easy to make out.

It was one large room, pews scattered haphazardly on each side of an aisle that led to a small stage and pulpit. The musty carpet lining the floor had faded to a dull pink and several of the walls flaked so badly it almost looked to have dandruff. A musk sat heavy in the air, mold crawling up from the floorboards and poisoning each breath Levi took. The centerpiece of the entire room, however, was the massive cross standing at attention behind the pulpit. Levi couldn’t be sure how it had remained standing with all the decay around it, but he figured it was probably some religious voodoo he didn’t want to know about.

A skinny kid lounged on the stairs leading up to the stage, phone in hand and tongue out as he frantically jabbed at the screen. Judging from the campy music pouring out of it, he was playing some kind of game, probably that Candy Crack thing Petra used to obsess over. When he noticed the two of them, he jackknifed to a standing position, eyes flickering between them wearily.

“Who the fuck you guys?” he said, shuffling nervously on his feet and scratching at his buzz cut.

Eren snorted beside him and Levi had to work not to do the same. The kid was trying just a little too hard to fit the gangbanger aesthetic.  

“Are you Connie Springer?” Levi asked and the kid bristled.

“Fuck you, I ain’t tellin’ you guys nothin till I know who you is.”

“We’re here to talk to you about a missing persons case you testified for in Lafayette County,” Levi said smoothly, stepping cautiously around a beam in his path. “We talked on the phone.”

“Nuh uh, homie,” Connie said, backing up. “I talked to the sheriff. You just some stupid high school kid.”

Levi might have taken offense to that if Connie didn’t look like he wasn’t a day over 15. “Listen, we just need to ask you a couple of questions about the statement you submitted and you can leave---”

“Fuck that, I’m out.”

Connie barged past them both and Eren sent Levi a look. Levi knew he was asking permission to bang the kid up a little, but he shook his head. There were easier and less conspicuous ways to get a rat to talk.

“I’d be willing to pay for your answers,” he called and Connie froze, turning on the spot. He looked suspicious until Levi pulled out a wad of cash from his pockets and his eyes widened when he noticed the fifty on top. Shuffling closer, he snatched the bills out of Levi’s hands and pocketed it; judging by the sores on his face, the cash would be used for his next hit.

“Okay,” he said, eyes shifting around. “You got five minutes.”

“You saw a man matching Kenny Ackerman’s description three weeks ago,” Levi began immediately, eyes laser focused on the kid’s reactions. “How did you know it was him?”

Connie shook his head. “Man, everybody round here knows Kenny. He’s that piece of shit that screwed Robbie over, no one forgets that.”

“Okay, and what was he doing when you saw him?”

“Fuck if I know,” Connie spit. “Probably screwing someone over. He came blastin out of some bar on the south side, throwin his prissy ass little hat on and screamin at someone I didn’t see.  I only just saw his big ass nose before he pushed me outta the way and ran down some alley. Real piece of shit…”

“But was there anyone with him?” Levi asked and Connie shrugged.

“Not that I saw.”

“Are you sure?” Levi pressed, desperation bleeding into his tone. “No one? No one just following even a little behind?”

“I told you no, homie. He was alone, far as I could tell.”

“Maybe it was a girl?” he pleaded. “Short, skinny, red hair? Around 14?”

Connie wrinkled his nose. “Fuck no, man. The south side ain’t no place for a little girl.”

Levi turned away, breath coming in short little pants. He hadn’t realized how much faith he’d put into this one lead. Even if the report had specifically said Kenny was the only one Connie had seen, he’d been hoping desperately there was more he hadn’t realized was important.

A hand landed on his shoulder and he flinched.

“Hey,” Eren soothed, worry evident in his tone. “Is everything alright?”

Levi shook his head, but then Connie was shifting again, backpedaling for the door.

“Hey listen, man, thanks for the dough but I gotta go before---”

The front door of the church banged open and several men ambled through. They were dressed similarly to Connie (muscle shirts, tattoo sleeves, snapbacks, _oh my_ ) and were clearly packing. Connie smiled ruefully, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at them.

“Uh, nothing personal homie, but uh, one of my boys got a beef with your sheriff, so we was gonna take him out.” He shrugged, his hat falling lower on his head. “But you’re the sheriff’s kid, I seen pictures of you, so I guess it’ll still work out.”

Levi didn’t even have time to formulate his thoughts before Eren was straightening beside him, relief coloring his tone. “Oh thank God, I was so frickin’ bored.” He turned to throw a salute to the cross behind them. “Looks like my prayers worked; thanks Jesus!”

“Now,” he proclaimed, pulling a knife from his sleeve (and maybe Levi should really start patting him down before they go out in public). “Who’s first?”

One of the men snorted. “That’s all you brought, kid? A knife to a gun fight?”

“No,” Eren drawled out, reaching into his pocket to reveal---Levi sighed. Another knife. “I brought two!”

“Okay, this is just ridiculous,” the same man muttered, pulling out a Glock and cockily leveling it with Eren’s head. “Let’s finish this so we can go home and---”

He cut off with a gurgle, both hands coming up to claw at the knife lodged in his neck. The other men backed away as he slid to the floor, the blood pooling around his neck, all shooting mildly horrified glances Eren’s way.

“Hey guys, just kidding,” he grinned, procuring another knife from behind his back. “I brought three.”

And then he was pushing Levi to the ground as the remaining men opened fire. Levi hit the ground hard, Eren’s strength sending him sprawling to the dusty carpet behind a pew. Covering his head, Levi peered under the one in front of him and tried to get a sense of what was happening, but all he caught were brief glimpses of feet. Shouts rang through the air, rising with the sound of gunfire to a deafening pitch. Levi couldn’t make out any of the words, but he could have sworn he heard the tenor of Eren’s voice join in, pitched high in laughter. 

And _fuck_ , what had he been thinking? He’d had a bad feeling about the entire setup, what with the strange meeting place and vague information, but had chalked it up to unfounded paranoia and lack of sleep. Worse, he’d brought Eren. He knew the kid had unnatural skill and a penchant for killing, but the guy was right, you didn’t win a gunfight with knives, you just didn’t. They were probably going to die here, blown full of holes by a bunch of second rate Crips wannabes, and the sheriff was going to find out that poor, innocent orphan Levi was poor and an orphan, but certainly not innocent.

The scent of blood thickened in the air, the sound of screams loud in the enclosed space, and he made to crawl forward when he suddenly heard a crash at his back. Turning roughly over, he noticed a beefy fuck of a man standing behind him, bald head shining and mouth twisted in an ugly sneer as he stalked forward. Levi scrambled to pull himself under a pew, but the rough carpet caught at his clothes and slowed his progress. Gun raised, the man made to shoot but then he jerked, body going slack and sliding to the floor.

Eren stood behind him, smiling as he twirled one of his knives, now wet and stained in crimson.

“Well, well, my little damsel,” he cooed, bending at the waist and placing his hands on his hips. “Good thing I was here to save you again!”

It was then that Levi realized how quiet it had become, a heavy silence settling thick as blood in the air. He stood and glanced around, but there wasn’t anything to see. Everyone was dead.

“How did you…” He trailed off, eyes flickering over the lifeless bodies of at least ten men scattered across the pews and aisle. He finally made it back to Eren, who wiggled his fingers and grinned.

“He’s a magic man, he’s got the magic hands.”

A rustle came from the pulpit and Eren’s gaze snapped over, eyes lighting up. Jumping up the stairs and kicking over the pulpit, he exclaimed, “Connie! Hey man, didn’t know you were still around!”

Levi followed behind him, stopping and peering around Eren’s arm. Connie was cowered before them, tears leaking from his eyes as his body shook in sobs. He clutched at his knee, the calf below bent at the wrong angle from the joint, with a fear in his eyes that Levi immediately recognized. He almost felt a sick kind of comradery with the kid as Eren laughed down at him.

“So you’re the one whose kneecap I busted!” Eren exclaimed, eyes lighting up in recognition. He turned to Levi. “See, I _told_ you it was kneecap busting day!”

Levi couldn’t tear his eyes from Connie’s, the boy gazing up at him with tear stained eyes. He couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t pleading for his life like Pixis had until he noticed the concave tilt to his chest. It was with horror rounded eyes that Levi watched the kid cough, a splatter of crimson trailing down his chin.

Eren was still talking, moving away from them both to stand in front of the giant cross casting a shadow over them all.

“You know,” he grunted, pushing the base a tad to the right and then checking the angle with his thumb. “This is almost a pity. I kinda liked you Connie. You were the real homie here.”

“Wait,” Levi tried to rasp, but his voice caught in the rough vacuum of his throat. Connie’s gaze didn’t budge, not condemning or judging Levi, just watching with an eerie kind of patience.

“Maybe in another life we coulda been friends,” Eren continued, oblivious to Levi’s turmoil. He tested the strength of the cross with a small push and it gave just a little. “But instead you had to call all your little amigos and try to kill us. That’s not nice, man.”

Tears continued to stream down Connie’s face and Levi felt his own eyes dampen. The kid was too fucking young for this, looked to be even younger than Levi himself, and it sparked a sympathy in Levi’s belly he didn’t quite understand. He wanted to move, to help, to do _fucking something,_ but just like the last time Eren had taken control he was confined to the prison of his own body.

“Welp,” Eren said, leaning against the side of the wooden base and shaking his head apologetically. “Our time together ends here. Hope you’re not mad. After all…” He smiled. “It’s nothing personal.”

And then he gave the base a push and grinned as it slowly toppled over. Levi watched in captivated horror as Connie offered him a small smile before the cross crashed into his body. He didn’t think he’d ever forget the dull thwack it made when it crushed the kid’s skull or the taste of his blood as it splattered across his lips. Trembling, he brought up a hand to wipe at his mouth, eyes transfixed on the pale jut of an arm from beneath the wood.

Eren giggled, clambering onto the base of the cross and walking across with his arms thrown out just to hear the muted squish.

“What a nice kid, ya know?” he said before leaping off and pulling Levi into a hug. “Thank you thank you thank you for bringing me, Levi! It was so fun! Best date I’ve ever been on!”

Levi couldn’t find his voice, stuck as it was beneath a scream in his throat. He didn’t know what to do about the arms around his shoulders, so he just let Eren pull him down the aisle, maneuvering them around bodies and blood stains as he went.

“Now as much as I like admiring my work, we gotta beat it before the cops show up,” he said, pulling them both to the entryway. Levi planted his feet at the door, finally finding his voice enough to breathe out Eren’s name.

Eren paused, eyes roaming over Levi’s face. “What? Are you hurt?”

“No…I…” Levi didn’t even know what he wanted to say. His gaze made to turn back to the grisly scene in the church, but a hand caught his face. Eren’s gaze was soft, eyes swimming with molten gold as he cradled Levi’s face with a warm palm.

“Hey, you’re alright, you’re okay, it’s all going to be okay. You’re safe as long as you’re with me.” He paused, eyes burning with an intensity that would rival the sun. “I’m going to protect you, okay?”

Levi’s mind whirred over the words, trying to connect them with the monster he had just witnessed massacre a roomful of gangbangers and a helpless kid caught up in its midst. But instead of the image of a demented grin and the crimson stain of blood on a blade, he could only remember the way Eren had tenderly wiped the tears from his face just that morning, eyes alight with a concern Levi had never been the recipient of. He wasn’t sure what he believed, didn’t really know which way was up right now, but he found himself nodding anyway.

“Okay.”

And Eren grinned like he’d been given the world.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want a soundtrack of what was running through my head on repeat for the duration of this chapter, here’s a [link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-sgw9bPV4A).

It took the entire car ride home and subsequent clean up time for Levi to realize he had a cut on his hand.

Well, actually, he noticed in the shower, hot water and shampoo running over the raw skin and stinging like a fucking _bitch,_ but to be fair he’d been a tad distracted until that point. He’d probably gotten it when he’d crashed into the church’s floor and thrown a palm out to break his fall, but it was small enough not to worry him. Leaning against the shower wall, steam clouding his vision and sticking all the way down his throat, he flicked a finger over the angry red line.

The familiar ache of it was almost relieving. Ever since the events of the afternoon, he’d been having trouble getting a handle on his thoughts, each one derailing and slipping from his grasp before it could completely form. Everything felt muted, dim, and he didn’t remember much of the drive home, only flashes of road and baby cows and golden eyes as they bore a hole in the side of his head. It wasn’t even until he had been in his room readying for a shower that he’d realized he’d invited Eren in as well. Or, at least, he thought he had, but he wouldn’t put it past him to take advantage of the tangled mess of Levi’s mind and flounce in uninvited.

So Levi welcomed the pain, if only so he could finally think. And there was a lot to think about.

First and foremost, the meeting with Connie hadn’t been useful in the slightest (other than maybe proving Levi an incompetent idiot yet again). The kid really had confessed all he knew to the police in his first report, maybe even more since Levi couldn’t be sure he’d really seen Kenny in the first place. Not only had the trip cost them time and quite a bit of the hope Levi had been harboring in some deep crevice of his mind, but it had ended with a needless loss of life. Which was another thing he needed to think through.

He didn’t feel a lick of remorse.

And maybe that said something about his mental state (fuck that, of course it did); he just couldn’t find it in himself to care. His first instincts had been shock and a kind of horrified fascination as he watched and heard the death unfold around him, but the adrenaline had faded from his veins and left behind a tired resignation that lingered for much longer than the repulsion. The day had been bloody, but necessary. Sure, Connie was just a kid, younger than Levi himself, but he had been running with some of the stupidest men in the city. More than that, he had willingly called on them all to take on who he’d thought would be a trained law enforcer and any back up he would surely bring (not to mention signed his paycheck every time he had useful information). The small part of Levi’s conscious that had survived these last few months could only hope the kid would find peace in whatever constituted as an afterlife these days (a notion that was awfully altruistic; he doubted any form of afterlife would be kind to Levi himself).

And maybe it all actually just tied into the last thought that plagued his mind---

“Hey Levi!”

Levi flailed, trying to cover himself as Eren poked his head around the curtain, hair dripping from his own shower. Fuck, he hadn’t even heard the kid come in. Growling, he jerked the plastic liner of the curtain over the lower half of his body and hissed out, “The _fuck_ , Eren?”

Eren rolled his eyes. “Oh, calm down, Levi. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”

“What do you mean you’ve seen it before---” Levi began, eyes narrowing dangerously, but Eren waved him off.

“It’s not important. Anyway, how much longer do you think you’re gonna be? I’m getting lonely out here by myself.”

It was Levi’s turn to roll his eyes. “Get out, Eren,” he repeated and Eren pouted, leaning farther into the shower and gazing pitifully at Levi.

“What if I got in with you? I promise I’d make it enjoyable---”

“Out, Eren.”

Huffing, Eren glared at him. “ _Fine_. But you better not keep me waiting for long.”

His head disappeared back behind the curtain and Levi relaxed a bit before he heard, “By the way, nice birthmark” and the click of the shutting door.

Levi sighed, easing his hold on the curtain and leaning his forehead against the cool tile of the wall. The only birthmark he had was on his ass.

Which brought him to part three of his worries: Eren.

He honestly didn’t know how to feel about the kid. By now, all of Levi’s sneaking suspicions about sociopathy and a complete disregard of human life had proven true, but there really hadn’t ever been anything to doubt in the first place.  Eren was crazy, completely and totally bat shit in a way Levi could never hope to understand, and was only revealing more and more of his insanity as time went on. He killed without a single thought of the circumstances or consequences and a man like that was to be feared.

There was also a part of Levi that knew they were on the clock, that Eren only had use for him while he was something new and shiny and fun, that he would leave him for dead the moment the tides looked to be turning or he couldn’t provide any more entertainment. It wasn’t even a question of if, but when; the day would come and Eren would leave him behind more damaged and helpless than the night he’d met him, mind a shattered mess as he buried a man he barely knew with a purported family in Arkansas and a knife cut precisely two inches below his hairline.

But Levi found himself caring less and less. As fucked up as it was, Eren seemed to feel something for him (as much as someone like Eren could) and his kindness was something Levi hadn’t been on the receiving end of in years. Even if Eren’s actions had been the cause, the strong protection of his arms and warmth of his gaze had been all Levi could hold onto as his world had pulled apart earlier, and as stupid as it made him he wouldn’t soon forget that. It didn’t matter that Eren’s protection and devotion were self-serving and spun from fabrications; Levi would take it as long as he didn’t have to feel so lonely anymore.

Which.

Yeah, it was pretty pathetic.

But Levi knew that Eren had been the only thing keeping him alive as of late and would be the only one willing to help him as he continued. If there existed even a chance of not being lonely any longer, it laid with Eren and his ability to help him find---

His mind bent, threatening to dive back into the swirling void from before, and he shied away from the continuation of that thought.

In the end, the killing and the terror and the blood didn’t even bother him anymore because Eren was around to take care of it all. He made Levi feel safe, took control when Levi couldn’t think for himself, and proved a much better ally than Levi had ever expected. He was coming to rely on him more and more, which probably scared him the most out of anything that had happened all day.

Sighing, Levi shook his head and attempted to clear his mind. It couldn’t all be solved in one shower. He allowed himself another moment with his head hung under the scalding spray and one last wet lungful of steam before snapping the water off with a flick of his wrist. He toweled off, double checking the lock on the door handle as he tossed on a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie, and avoided his reflection as he slapped a Band-Aid over his palm.

Back in his room, he avoided the bear hug Eren tried to bestow on him and slung his towel over his desk chair.

“Oh thank God you’re back!” Eren crowed, practically stepping on Levi’s heels as he followed him to the foot of his bed. “I’ve been dying to ask you something!”

“What?” Levi asked, knees nearly buckling as he sat heavily on the edge of the mattress and rubbed at his temple. Eren took a seat beside him, eyes glowing in the dim light of the room.

“Well,” he drawled, “I was wondering how I did?”

Levi peeked up at him, frown pulling at the corners of his mouth. “How you did on what?”

“Today!” he exclaimed, pushing even closer in his excitement. “The fight! We have a contract and I wanted to make sure I did everything right. I need a performance report, Levi!”

Levi held his frown for a few incredulous moments before slowly shaking his head. “You want me to rate you on how well you killed people?”

Eren shrugged. “Well, I mean, that and how efficient I was and areas I could improve on, stuff like that. I don’t want to be disappointing you and not even know!”

If Eren’s eyes didn’t show with such stark earnestness, Levi would have laughed. Instead, he averted his gaze and shrugged. “I don’t know, I thought you did okay.” Better than okay, really; he’d taken out a dozen heavily armed men with three knives and a shit eating grin.

Eren didn’t seem to like his answer, though, leaning forward and peering up at him beseechingly. “But there’s gotta be _something_ I could improve, somewhere I messed up? Come on Levi, give me something I can use!”

Levi shook his head, casting his gaze around the room. “I don’t know, there wasn’t anything…” He paused, noticing the crinkle of the Band-Aid on his hand. He held it up between them uncertainly. “I mean, I got a small cut. Does that count?”

Eren gasped, gently taking Levi’s hand in both of his own and caressing a finger over his palm. His face fell and Levi realized he might have fucked up.

“You were wounded.”

Levi cocked an eyebrow. “It’s a scratch, Eren.”

“You were wounded and I didn’t do anything to stop it,” he repeated, gazing forlornly at Levi’s skin like he could heal the cut with the heat of his gaze. “I failed you.”

What the fuck was even going on? “Eren, it’s, like, two inches long---”

“This is unacceptable.” Eren’s eyes flashed hard as steel, though Levi thought the anger was directed internally. “I can’t believe I let this happen. I’m usually better than this.”

Levi rolled his eyes. “It’s fine. It’s not like I’m going to die or anything.”

“But still,” he whispered, finger making another swipe over Levi’s palm before his head snapped up and Levi became lost in his gaze.

“It won’t happen again,” he vowed, eyes resolute as he clutched Levi’s hand to his chest. “I promise, Levi.”

Levi almost wanted to laugh again at how earnest Eren was being over a cut as tiny as this one, but he thought that might end in premature death so he instead shrugged awkwardly again. “Um, sure. Thanks.”

Eren nodded, mood downcast as he shifted to glare the floor into submission. Levi fidgeted uneasily. This abrupt change in his temper honestly scared him; he wasn’t used to seeing Eren so upset. Hell, the guy smiled as he stabbed people to death.

“Um,” he began and Eren hesitantly peeked up at him. “Other than the…wound…you uh---you did good. Today, I mean. You shouldn’t be…upset.”

Fuck, he was awkward. Eren continued to stare at him and Levi had almost made the decision to take it all back and hide under the bed when a smile erupted across his face.

“You think I did good?” Eren asked, straightening, and Levi nodded. He didn’t have time to prepare as Eren’s arms caged him in a constricting embrace, the kid’s grin pressing into his hair as he laughed. Levi didn’t even try to wiggle out of this one because he knew there was nowhere else to go.

“You’re too good to me, Levi,” he breathed, making Levi shiver. Which was embarrassing, because there was no way Eren missed that plastered as he was to his side. It felt good and the frigidity in his muscles melted against the long line of heat Eren’s body made alongside his own. Eren rubbed a cheek into his hair before snapping back and wiping a hand over his face.

“Ew Levi, did you try to dry off at all?”

 Already missing the warmth of the embrace, Levi grimaced and smoothed both hands down his arms. “Yes.”

“Well, it wasn’t enough. You’re entirely too wet.”

Eren sent him an eyebrow waggle (ah, so he’d resorted to the mindset of a middle schooler again) and dragged Levi up and over to the chair. Snapping the towel up, he ignored Levi’s protests and tossed it over his head. Levi tried to fight his hands off, but Eren avoided his flailing with ease and began toweling his hair off.

“Eren, the fuck?”

“Oh Levi, you’re such a mess,” he said and Levi could just feel the disapproving grin he wore. “What would you do without me?”

Levi didn’t respond, mostly because he didn’t want to examine the truth in that statement. After a couple more passes, Eren looped the towel around Levi’s neck and smiled as he pulled him closer.

“There you go, silly. Feel better now?”

“Sure,” he groused, avoiding meeting the gaze poised entirely too near his own. Eren laughed again, bending down and bringing his smile even closer---

The door snicked open and Levi tore from Eren’s hold as the sheriff stopped dead in the doorway. His eyes skittered over Levi’s wide eyed expression to Eren’s grin and finally landed on the towel that fluttered weakly to the ground between them. Levi didn’t know how much he had seen, but he was sure however much it was could be taken in entirely the wrong way.

“Well hello there,” the sheriff said, blinking the shock from his eyes and smiling kindly at Eren. “Sorry Levi, I didn’t realize you had someone over.”

Levi made to say something, though what he wasn’t sure, but Eren beat him to it.

“Ah, you must be the sheriff!” he enthused, scrambling forward. Levi moved to cut him off (because who knew what the fuck he planned to do), but Eren merely shook the sheriff’s hand and flashed him a wide grin. “Levi’s told me so much about you!”

The man’s brows rose and he shot Levi a confused look as he returned the handshake. “Oh, is that so?”

“Mhm!” Eren hummed. “It’s great to finally meet the man he looks up to so much!”

The sheriff puffed his chest out and Levi internally groaned. So this was how Eren was going to play it.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you as well,” the sheriff rumbled, smiling in a way that meant he’d already been won over. “What’s your name, son?”

“I’m Eren,” he said, the picture of a respectful, God fearing teenage boy. “I wouldn’t normally intrude in your home like this, but when Levi said he wasn’t feeling well I had to come over and check up on him. I’m sure you understand, sir.”

Levi’s jaw nearly dropped. _Sir?_ He almost didn’t believe his eyes, but Eren was playing his role hard and the sheriff was hanging off every word.

“Of course I do,” the sheriff said warmly, clearly eager to please the polite boy in front of him. “I’m glad Levi has such a good friend to take care of him.”

Eren grinned. “Well, that’s what we made a contract for.”

Levi’s eyes narrowed, but the sheriff laughed. “Well, I just came up to tell you that Pet and I brought dinner home.” He shifted his weight, settling both fists on his hips. “Say Eren, how about you join us? There’s always plenty to go around.”

That finally spurred Levi into action. He crossed the room and grabbed Eren firmly by the arm. “No, no, Eren can’t stay. He has somewhere to be, right Eren?”

The sheriff’s smile fell. “Oh, if that’s true I really don’t want to keep you---”

“Nah, this is more important” Eren said and the other man perked up. “I’d love to stay for dinner.”

“But the _thing,_ Eren,” Levi growled lowly, digging his fingernails into the flesh of Eren’s arm. “You really shouldn’t skip it.”

Eren finally glanced down at him, the sweet quirk to his lips belied by the fire in his eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ve already cancelled it.”

“When?” Levi shot back, mirroring his posture.

“Just now.”

The sheriff glanced between the two of them before clapping his hands together. “Well, that’s great. I’ll go down and have Pet set out another plate.”

“Do you need any help?” Eren called, shaking Levi’s hold off and making to follow the sheriff out the door. Levi tried to grab for him again, but Eren dodged easily and began to make small talk with the sheriff as they both ambled down the hallway and downstairs.

Levi cursed, running his hand through his hair. This was going to be a fucking disaster.

***

He was absolutely right, but not in the way he’d thought.

Eren was a perfect gentleman, charming the pants off both Petra and the sheriff with funny anecdotes and one witty one-liner after another. Levi didn’t know what he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t Eren primly settling his napkin over his lap and cutting his steak like a civilized human being. Levi almost felt bad for it too; when Eren had caught him eying the steak knife in his hand like it were a gun he’d sent Levi a disappointed look that had Levi’s cheeks coloring. It’s not that he thought Eren couldn’t control himself with a knife, but… No, that’s exactly what he’d thought and he really shouldn’t have to apologize for it after the events of the day.

But it was disarming, to say the least. Eren was having dinner at his dining room table, eating cooked carrots for fuck’s sake. Sure, he shirked off every other social convention, but ate his fucking vegetables like a pro. It was unnerving.

Not only that; it was dangerous.

“So Eren,” the sheriff began, chewing on a piece of steak. “How did you and Levi meet?”

“Oh, we met while---” Levi piped up, but was quickly silenced with a look from the sheriff.

“Excuse me, Levi, I asked Eren.”

Levi sat back in his chair. _Fuck_.

Eren swallowed and dabbed delicately at his mouth before answering and Levi wanted to fucking strangle him. “Oh, Levi and I go _way_ back.”

The sheriff looked intrigued. “Is that so?”

“Oh yeah! The soils of our friendship run deep. I’d say six feet, at least.”

Levi didn’t know how Eren could survive with the heat of Levi’s gaze burning straight through his forehead, but his smile didn’t dim by a watt. Levi also didn’t know how the sheriff had kept his job for this long.

“That’s an oddly specific number,” the man laughed before leaning on his elbows. “Do you two hang out often? Levi here doesn’t tell us anything about his life nowadays.”

“We don’t hang out often.”

“We’re together all the time!”

Levi flinched at their twin outbursts, but Eren grinned at him. “Levi is just a little shy, I think. We hang out nearly every day.”

“Really?” the sheriff questioned, passing the lemonade jug to Petra. “So I take it you’re usually at the library with him? That seems to be where he spends all of his time these days.”

Hello, was Levi not a part of this conversation any longer? Was he fucking invisible or something? His eyes were starting to hurt he was glaring so hard.

“Yeah sure,” Eren said, taking the jug when it was his turn. “I’m a huge fan of the library. Got to keep my studies up, ya know.”

He winked and the sheriff grinned almost proudly. It made Levi fucking _sick_. The sheriff shook his head slowly, mood sobering a little.

“Yes, well, on a more serious note, I’m glad you’ve stuck with Levi through everything that’s gone on lately. He needs a good friend right now.”

Levi paused in the act of moving food around his plate and sent the sheriff a look. Was he seriously going there right now?

Eren threw a hand over his heart. “Oh thank you, sir. I’m always there for a friend in need, especially someone as dear to me as Levi.”

Eren met his eyes and Levi stabbed his steak with a renewed vigor. It didn’t seem to deter the kid any, though, because he popped a piece of roll in his mouth and smiled.

“So what have you guys been up to all day?” Petra piped up from beside Levi and he shot her a grateful look. What an angel for changing the subject. “I mean, you guys _have_ been alone in the house all day. What could you possibly have been doing together?”

Scratch that. Petra was the devil and he was going to fucking claw that pretty little smile right off her face. Apparently everyone at the table had it out for him, because Eren turned towards him as he answered, eyes flashing dangerously.

“Oh you know, just chillin’ and killin’… time.”

Time wasn’t the only thing that was going to get killed at this rate.

“Yeah, but doing _what_?” Petra continued mischievously and Levi abruptly stood from the table, chair scratching unpleasantly against the linoleum.

“Levi?” the sheriff said, eyebrows cocked high on his forehead. Levi kept his gaze lowered, fists clenching at his side. He wasn’t actually sure what he should do now, but at least he’d derailed the conversation for a moment.

“I’m getting dessert,” he finally said, pushing from the table and heading for the kitchen.

“I don’t think we have anything---”

“I’ll find something.”

In the relative safety of the kitchen, he let his head thunk against the cool steel of the fridge and nearly whimpered. God, his life had gone to complete shit. He didn’t have control over anything anymore, not even his own body. Pressing his flaming cheeks more firmly against the metal, he tried to quell some of the physical representations of his embarrassment before he was forced to go back out and deal with his own personal hell all over again. At this rate he was going to set on fire and Eren probably would kill everyone out of boredom. Honestly, that almost seemed like a viable option at this point.

So enraptured by his own misery, he almost didn’t hear the squeak of house shoes that announced the sheriff’s presence. He turned, meeting the man’s warm gaze.

“How’s that dessert findin coming along?”

Levi shrugged, opening a cabinet and halfheartedly rummaging through it. He considered a snack pack of chocolate pudding before pulling out a half-eaten box of vanilla wafers and tossing them on the counter.

“You know,” the sheriff began, leaning over his arms on the island. “I’m a little disappointed in you, Levi.”

Levi froze, eyes trailing up slowly to meet the icy blue of the sheriff’s. The man stared at him hard and he felt a trickle of fear pour down his spine. This was completely unexpected and he wasn’t prepared for whatever was about to go down.

“I’ve always thought we had a strong enough bond that you could tell me things. To find out you’ve been keeping secrets is just not like you.”

Levi shook his head, eyes widening. “No, I don’t---what?”

“I’m talking about you and Eren,” the sheriff said gruffly and Levi’s heart sank. “Do you honestly expect me to believe that the two of you have just been hanging out at the library and studying every day? Or that you were sick and Eren just came over to take care of you?” He sighed, shaking his head again. “It’s almost sad how stupid you must think me. I’m the sheriff for a reason, Levi.”

Holy shit, holy shit, he _knew._ Eren really had gone too far, because the sheriff had finally picked up on something and _knew_. He didn’t even know how to play this---how much did he know?

Levi swallowed hard, throat catching at the sudden dryness. “How long have you suspected?”

“Well, it was confirmed today, but pretty well since I got a report that you’d been hanging around a new boy around your school.”

Fucking Sasha Blouse, Jesus _Christ_. Levi gritted his teeth, closing his eyes against the hurt in the sheriff’s eyes.

“I just can’t believe you wouldn’t have come to me first.”

Yeah, okay, enough with the guilt tripping, just tell him what was going to happen next.

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t…” God, where did he even start?

The sheriff sighed. “Honestly, if you wanted to spend time with your boyfriend, you should have just asked instead of making up excuses.”

Levi’s eyes snapped open. He thought he might have heard him wrong, what with the pounding of his heart in his ears. “…What?”

The sheriff shook his head, smile gracing his thin lips. “I can’t believe you thought I wouldn’t approve. I’d support you in anything, Levi, especially something like this.”

Oh Jesus, did he think---

“I think you and Eren make a great couple and---”

Levi groaned, letting his head sink to the counter again. “Oh my God.”

“---I’m disappointed that you didn’t think you could trust me with it. You two don’t need to sneak around, especially when you invite him over to the house.” The sheriff shrugged. “I may be…older…but that doesn’t mean I’m intolerant.”

“Oh God,” Levi repeated, lifting his gaze only to shove his face in his hands. The sheriff’s eyes held too much compassion and parental understanding for him to stand.

“If you need a safe place to be together,” he continued earnestly, “this house is a judgement free zone and I want you to feel comfortable. Eren is welcome here anytime---”

“We’re not, that’s not---” Jesus, he couldn’t even say it; he’d rather face Pixis alone again than have this conversation. The sheriff must have sensed this, because he put a comforting hand on Levi’s shoulder in the same way he had that morning.

“It’s okay, Levi. You don’t have to say it.” He smiled warmly and Levi averted his gaze. “But if you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. I’m always here for you.”

And if Levi hadn’t already felt like an asshole… He sighed, nodding his head and the sheriff squeezed his shoulder.

“Good man. Now let’s get these… wafers out before Pet talks Eren’s ear off, okay?”

Levi nodded again and allowed the sheriff to maneuver him back into the dining room. Levi didn’t have a single idea what they talked about for the rest of the meal, too horrified and unbearably embarrassed to focus on anything but the mechanical push of food around his plate. He probably should have listened and made sure Eren didn’t say anything too revealing, but honestly he’d rather not know if he did anyway.

By the time all their plates (save Levi’s) were clean and the vanilla wafers box discarded, the sheriff and Petra were completely bewitched by Eren. Petra’s eyes had gone hazy and slightly heart-shaped while the sheriff had forced Eren to promise some future fishing outings with the family. Eren himself looked pleased with the entire situation, grin stretching his lips wide the entire time, but Levi still didn’t know how to get a good read on the kid so it could have all been for show.

The whole family escorted Eren to the front porch, but it was Levi who was left alone with him to say the final goodbye (while Petra watched from one of the front windows, he was sure).

Letting his body sag against the porch railing, Levi crossed his arms and threw his head back to rest against a post.

“That was a fucking disaster,” he huffed, breath making a cloud in the chill air.

“Really?” Eren said, bouncing on his feet in front of him. “I thought it went quite well! Your family is amazing! I’ve never had a meal like that before!”

Levi shot him a look. “I told you not to interact with them. I thought we had a deal.”

“Things change, Levi,” Eren said, waving him off with an eye roll. “Besides, I think they really liked me!”

Levi tossed his head, snorting. “Yeah, because they don’t know who you really are.”

The air seemed to chill by a few degrees more and when he glanced up his heart ached a little at the pull of Eren’s frown. Levi shifted, arms uncrossing only to fall limply by his sides.

“That’s not what I meant, Eren,” he said, wanting to punch himself in the face. “They really did like you, okay?”

Eren’s lips turned up in increments. “You really think so?”

Levi nodded, sighing. “Yeah, I do.” He rolled his eyes. “I just…It freaked me out because they…”

He paused, snorting unattractively and meeting Eren’s sparkling eyes.

“They think we’re fucking _dating_.”

“Well, are we not?”

It was said so abruptly that Levi had to pause and look up into his face. Eren gazed down at him fondly, eyes half lidded and smile sweet. He didn’t move to touch him, but Levi felt the caress of his gaze across the apple of his cheek, the slope of his nose, the swell of his lips.

“What do you mean?” he asked lowly and Eren moved in closer.

“Well,” he began softly as he placed his hands on either side of Levi’s hips on the railing. “You took me on dates you knew I’d like, introduced me to your family, and make me happy all the time. I’ve never had a boyfriend before, but that sounds like a really good one to me.”

Levi had to look away before he got trapped in the heat of that golden gaze. “We made a deal, it’s not anything more than that.”

“Mmm, maybe at first it wasn’t,” Eren hummed, taking Levi’s chin in his hand and forcing his eyes back up. “But like I said, Levi, things change.”

He leaned impossibly closer and for a moment there wasn’t anything but Eren, the warm touch of his skin, soft sound of his voice, cool drift of his breath. It was intoxicating and completely mind numbing, and Levi thought he’d probably have an aneurism if Eren pushed any farther. Thankfully (or not; jury was still out on that one), Eren didn’t try anything more, just smiled down at him.

“I’m going to leave or I think Petra will have a heart attack over there,” he said, inclining his head at the window behind him. “But I want you to go upstairs and get some rest for me. No work, just straight to bed. We’ll hit it hard tomorrow, okay?”

By now, Eren’s forehead was nearly touching Levi’s own, so he probably felt it when Levi nodded slowly. The hand that had been on Levi’s chin moved to tuck a stray piece of hair behind his ear. His fingers lingered there, causing Levi’s breath to catch in his throat, before sliding to cup his face in a warm palm. Angling Levi’s head slightly to the side with his fingers as a guide, Eren leaned in until his lips pressed against the smooth skin beneath Levi’s cheekbone. They were a paralyzing heat there, simple yet branding, but all too soon they were gone.

Levi was left breathless. It was the most intimate thing he’d ever felt despite the innocence of the action.

“What was that for?” he asked, hating how breathy his voice came out.

Eren smiled. “That’s what boyfriends do, right?”

And with one more swipe of his thumb down Levi’s neck, he had disappeared into the shadows of the yard. Levi was left a panting mess on the front stoop, entirely aware that he’d lost his breath for no goddamn reason. Shaking his head, he took a moment to regain control of his limbs. He knew that moment with Eren was one of the worst things he’d ever allowed to happen (and he’d done some pretty fucked up shit), but his thoughts swirled like the time he and Farlan had broken into Kenny’s alcohol stash and he couldn’t find the will or presence of mind to care about anything except the warmth still lingering on his cheek.

He slowly opened the front door and ambled inside. Petra lounged just inside the entryway, knowing grin fighting to steal across her entire face. Grimacing, Levi huffed out a muted, “shut up” before making for the stairs. Her laughter followed him the entire way up.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry I didn't tell you I wouldn't be posting last Sunday- it was a holiday weekend here in the States. Anyway, thanks for waiting patiently!

Levi bent over the notebook in front of him, pen tapping in the margin as he considered the words scrawled there. Ignoring the pair of eyes laser focused on him, he flipped a page and leaned his head on a fist. He drew a line between two names and scribbled out a question mark beside them, making a mental note to crosscheck the two later.

Across from him, bright eyes lit up as he slapped the journal closed but dimmed just as quickly as he pulled out another and began writing there too. Levi tried to block out the puppy dog vibes being sent his way, but not even the din of the library around them could cover the pathetic whine that reached his ears.

Levi flicked his gaze up.

“Do you need something?”

Eren shook his head, lashes fluttering innocently as he dug his chin deeper into the pool of his arms on the table. Levi continued to frown at him for a moment before returning his eyes to his work. Without missing a beat, a foot nudged against his own. It lingered there a moment before dragging up his calf and hooking in the crease of his knee. When he shot Eren an irritated glance this time, he merely smiled, tugging with his foot until Levi’s ribs hit the table.

Levi leaned back, tossing his pen on the notebook and dragging a hand down his face.

“Eren…” he sighed, arm falling limp in his lap. “ _Please_ just let me get this done. I’ll finish this last thing and then we can leave, I swear. Until then, just…” He waved a hand dismissively. “Read, or something. I don’t know. Just let me work.”

“But you’ve been working for _hours_ ,” Eren whined, twisting until his cheek pressed into a glossy page of the magazine he’d been scanning. “We’ve been here so long I think my butt has fallen asleep. Do you want to be responsible for butt cramps, Levi? Do you?”

Rubbing a knuckle into his eye blearily, Levi sucked in a heavy breath. It’s not that he didn’t agree with Eren; he was ready to leave as well. “Listen, I’m tired too, but it’s not going to be too much longer. The library closes soon anyway.”

“We’ve closed this place out every night this week!” Eren whimpered pitifully. “There’s only so much Cosmo a guy can read before he goes insane. I can’t be held responsible for my actions when I’m so bored…”

And didn’t that sound ominous.

Levi fixed him with a heavy stare. “I already told you to leave---”

“And you know that’s not going to happen,” Eren interrupted, eyes resolute. “Boyfriends support each other in everything they do.” He exhaled quietly, eyes going distant as he gazed forlornly at the other patrons of the library. “Even at the expense of their own happiness.”

“What a martyr,” Levi deadpanned, but he didn’t mean to sound so uncaring. As annoying as he might sometimes be, Eren had proved incredibly loyal these past weeks, trailing obediently after Levi to the library every day after school and dealing with his erratic mood swings without breaking a sweat. Levi would never admit it out loud, but he was always glad Eren stuck around when he insisted he go home; it was nice to have someone to be around again.

(Another thing he would never admit was that it also sometimes made him ache for the easy comradery he’d shared with Farlan, but he somehow didn’t think that would go over well with Eren and he never voiced the thought.)

Fending off a yawn, Levi groggily returned his eyes to the pages before him. He’d written so many names down they were starting to blur across the lines, but he couldn’t stop for the night. Not yet, at least. He’d need to get through a couple more of the library’s archived newspapers, maybe run another search on a couple names he might have not have payed enough attention to, cross reference some dates from Kenny’s arrest record…

He jerked when he felt a warm pressure on his knee. Eyes snapping up, he prepared to threaten Eren for distracting him again, but the kid’s chair was empty. He turned, startling when he noticed Eren’s golden gaze not two feet from him, his hand covering Levi’s knee. Shit, maybe he was a little too tired; he hadn’t even noticed him move.

“Maybe we should get you home,” Eren said, head tilting in concern. “You’re dead on your feet and I don’t want you falling asleep behind the wheel.”

Levi quickly shook his head, blinking the heaviness from his eyes. “I can’t.”

“Levi---”

“ _Eren,_ ” he parroted, mouth setting in a grimace. “We haven’t had a solid lead in a _month._ We’re running out of time.”

“Well, we could always consider the one sure lead we have---”

“No.” There wasn’t any room for argument and Eren knew that. They weren’t going after Annie Leonhart, end of discussion.

“Fine,” Eren acquiesced easily. They’d already had this conversation a couple of times. “But I really think you should stop for the night. You haven’t eaten since lunch and your sleep has been for shit lately. Let’s get you home.”  

Levi stopped to consider it. Eren didn’t know it, but he was wrong; Levi hadn’t eaten since dinner the day before and his stomach pulled achingly tight in his belly. He’d just forgotten about lunch, had been forgetting a lot of things lately, but now that he’d been reminded the ache flared back to life and caused him to almost double over.

“Maybe that wouldn’t be a bad idea,” he mumbled as Eren wrapped a comforting arm around his back. They both stood, Eren gathering the notebooks and tossing them in Levi’s backpack. He threw it over his own shoulder and began to usher Levi out the front doors of the library.

“I found this great place down the street where we can grab something to eat,” he said, leading Levi into the dark. “They’ve got great fries and don’t watch their tip jar.”

Levi nodded absently, only half listening. The evening was beautiful, cool wind catching playfully at his clothes and the fresh scent of fall sitting like dew in the air. The stars looked especially striking, poking through the veil of night to spy down on them with flashing eyes, but Levi couldn’t help but think they were put to shame by the golden glow of Eren’s.

A thought he promptly shut down and forgot about in a hurry, because down that path lay madness and he already had enough of that in his life as it was.

Levi knew the diner Eren was talking about as soon as they stepped through the front door. It was one of the oldest places in town, evident in the sticky slide of its red vinyl booths and the slow whirl of fan blades on the ceiling. The acrylic countertops glowed white enough to only emphasize the flutter of the fly traps that ribboned from the ceiling, probably the same ones that had been up since Levi was a kid. If that wasn’t disgusting enough, the diner’s only waitress, Rose, had hiked her considerably sized ass up on the counter to fan herself with a hand and joke with the cook, teeth clicking as she threw her head back in laughter. The entire scene was horrifically campy, embodied with the sleepy soul of the town itself, and he didn’t understand what would ever attract Eren there until he spotted the back door near the end of the counter.

Well, Levi wasn’t going to begrudge him a free meal.

After they were seated and had ordered, Eren excused himself for the restroom without a backwards glance at him. Levi took the momentary reprieve to think, absentmindedly twirling the chain of his necklace between his fingers.

Eren had been looking bored lately. He followed Levi obediently, but his eyes were dark, the gold dulled to a hazy flaxen color. The last time Levi had seen his eyes truly shine had been the day he’d killed Connie and his friends. It had been weeks since then, long enough for the bruising around Levi’s face and ribs to fade to a mottled yellow and then disappear altogether. Levi couldn’t help but worry that Eren was beginning to tire of him, would up and leave if Levi didn’t do something other than agonize over research and records in the library every day.

Levi couldn’t let that happen. He needed him, needed his strength and charm and skill. More than that, he needed his support. The heat of that gaze and comfort of those arms were the only things keeping Levi from succumbing to the cold grip of numbness that threatened to steal over his body at any given moment. He vaguely realized that Eren had been his grip on reality for a while now, which was as disquieting as it was relieving; at this point, to lose him might be to lose himself.

Before he could ponder _that_ unsavory thought any more, the jingle of the diner door broke into his thoughts. From his position around the counter, Levi couldn’t see who had come in but the deep drawl of their voice immediately caught his attention and caused his head to snap up.

“Hey there Rose. How’s the night shift treating ya?”

“Oh, about as good as you would expect,” Rose’s voice floated back, pitched low. “What about you, sheriff? Pulling another all-nighter?”

The sheriff’s heavy sigh could be heard all the way around the corner. “Yeah, got a pretty big lead in one of our cases. Gonna need that coffee to be a large this time.”

 _Shit_ , he hoped the sheriff hadn’t seen him. He doubted it, or the man would have already been over and questioning him. He had forgotten that the diner stood directly next to the sheriff’s office, so close they shared an interior wall. The officers were frequent visitors, claiming the coffee was the best in town (it wasn’t and everyone knew that, but Rose was the mother of one of the deputies and there was a certain amount of obligation there). But it also almost felt like a stroke of luck for the sheriff to be here now and talking about a break in a case. Levi knew that there weren’t many cases open right now that could be considered “big,” so he could only hope that this had something to do with Kenny’s.

“A break in a case, huh?” Rose continued and Levi could picture her leaning back against the counter, twirling a loose curl around her finger. “Wouldn’t happen to be the Ackerman case, would it?”

Heart leaping into his throat, Levi strained forward, trying to hear more without exposing himself.

“You know I’m not supposed to discuss police business with you, Ms. Rose,” the sheriff said, though there was a teasing lilt to his voice.

“Ha,” she snorted, “and you know my boy Johnny comes home every night and tells me anyway. Save him the trouble, sheriff.”

Yes, save Johnny the trouble, sheriff, _for God’s fucking sake_. Before Levi could punch little fingernail holes through his own palms, the sheriff finally relented.

“No. It’s not the Ackerman case.”

Levi deflated, breath leaving his body in a huff. So it wasn’t about Kenny or... her. Levi didn’t know whether to feel relief or disappointment at the sheriff’s denial, but it left him boneless either way.

“I wish it was the Ackerman case,” the sheriff continued, a tired edge leaking into his voice. “You remember the Mike Zacharias case from a couple months back?”

“Sure, roommate came home and found him choking on his own blood.” Rose chuckled. “Nasty case, that was.”

Levi fell back in his seat, fingers dancing over the edge of the table. He didn’t really care about their conversation any longer. If it wasn’t about Kenny or himself, he wasn’t interested.

“Yeah, well someone had been sending him some false leads in the weeks before his death, making it seem like the feds were onto his meth business.”

That caught his attention. False leads? That sounded a little too familiar.

“Didn’t know about that,” Rose said. “You think they were trying to smoke him out?”

“No, I think they were trying to fool us into thinkin’ he ran, got scared and hightailed it out of town. But they were interrupted before they could finish the job and dispose of the body.”

“His roommate coming home,” she guessed and he hummed in accordance.

“Uh-huh. Woulda been right smart too; I doubt we would have investigated any farther than slapping it as a missing persons and leaving it there.”  

“Well sheriff, you’re right. That’s pretty interesting,” Rose continued and Levi heard the distinct clink of glass as she hopefully started plating his and Eren’s food. His stomach threatened to eat itself if he didn’t get any sustenance soon. “But how is that a break in the case? Mike is already dead and buried.”

“Well, that’s the thing, Rose. I think they did the exact same thing to another missing person we have, ‘cept they finished the job that time and successfully got rid of the body. We didn’t even link them until Bridgette noticed the similarity in some of their paperwork.”

Levi rolled his eyes. Could they finish yapping so the woman could actually do her job and bring their food over?

“Oh yeah? And who’s that?”

 God, he was going to fucking starve to death and all his research and subsequent fibro myalgia would be in vain.

“Guy by the name of Maddox Porter.”

Levi felt the blood freeze in his veins.

“He went missing about a month ago,” the sheriff continued, oblivious to the teenager having a heart attack not ten feet from him, “‘round the beginning of September. He was a low level dealer for the Reiss family so we didn’t think anything much when his landlord sent in the missing person report. Those kinds of guys don’t stick around any place too long; he’d packed up his shit and everything.”

“Yeah? How’d ya link them?”

“The rumors about FBI investigation into their businesses were the exact same, right down to the people tellin’ them. All of their possessions had been packed up like they were fixin’ to leave and they’d both left notes for their landlords with their last month’s payment. Same exact notes.” The sheriff cleared his throat. “Now, we don’t have a body for Porter, but I guarantee they were killed in the exact same way. Hopefully if they strike again we’ll be able to compare the killing wound to Zacharias’.”

“Well, that sounds real promising, sheriff,” Rose’s honeyed voice broke in, and the rustle of a paper bag transferring hands drifted back. “But you’re food is ready. Good luck on your cases. Just don’t keep Johnny out too late, okay?”

The sheriff laughed, the fall of his footsteps trailing after him to the door. “Don’t worry about that, Rose. We’ll have your boy out by midnight.”

Then the sheriff left with a jingle of the door and Rose rounded the corner with two heaping platefuls of food.  When she set them down, she shot Levi a concerned look.

“Hey, you alright, son?”

Levi felt the joints in his neck pop as he slowly nodded. He couldn’t meet her eyes, let alone muster a smile. She looked unsure, manicured finger reaching for his shoulder, but he flinched violently from her touch. 

“I’m fine,” he grit out, but his voice didn’t sound right even to his own ears. Both eyebrows quirked high on her head and she huffed like she wasn’t convinced, but she obligingly backed away and rounded the corner again. She’d probably been in this town long enough she thought he was a tweeker. 

Even though he’d been starving before, the steam from the food before him suddenly caused his stomach to clench. He shakily pulled himself to his feet. Eren finally breezed out of the restroom, but Levi pushed right by him and out the back door. He stumbled into a narrow alleyway, stomach and mind rolling at the acrid stench of trash and waste. Bracing himself against the wall, he dipped his head and worked on slowing his breathing. It proved harder than he had anticipated; his body wouldn’t cooperate as his thoughts spun around the loop of his mind.

He heard the slam of the door behind him and Eren’s cautious approach.

“Hey,” he breathed, “what’s wrong?”

Levi pushed into the wall before him, the unforgiving bite of the brick giving him something to focus on. “They know about Maddie.”

“Maddie…? That guy you killed when we first met?”

“Yes,” Levi bit out. “They know he didn’t just go missing and they linked him to another case.”

“Who did?”

“The sheriff. The police” God, this was bad, this was so _fucking_ bad.

Eren shuffled behind him. “But… you didn’t kill anyone else…”

Levi slowly twisted around and Eren shot up indignantly. “Wait, you didn’t right? Because not gonna lie, that would hurt my feelings a little.”

Shaking his head, Levi rubbed a hand over his face. “No, I didn’t. But someone else did, and it was similar enough to how I did it that they linked them.”

“So,” Eren drawled, eyebrows furrowed, “they copied you?”

Levi heaved out a heavy sigh, beginning to pace back forth in the limited space. Eren had come to the same conclusion that he had; there was no possible way that there were that many similarities between the cases without it being intentional. It looked like someone had copied him, but who the hell would have known enough about Maddie’s death to do so was beyond him.

“I don’t fucking _know._ They used the same lead system as me and packed up all of the guy’s possessions like he was getting ready to run, but they couldn’t have used the same killing method---”

He abruptly cut off, feet halting in their mindless parade. When he didn’t immediately start his pacing again, Eren moved to stand in front of him, head angled to the side.

“What do you mean?”

Levi whirled on his heel, stalking down the alleyway without a single look tossed behind him. Eren didn’t have to work hard to catch up. He easily fell in beside him, every one of his strides matching three of Levi’s.

“Where are you going, Levi?” he asked with all of the resignation of a parent indulging their misbehaving child.

Levi gave a quick shake of his head. “We have to dig up the body.”

“What?” Eren paused in surprise but quickly hurried back to Levi’s side. “Look, I’m usually all for desecration of holy ground, but I don’t think you can just waltz into a cemetery and dig people up---”

“We have to dig him up. I have to see the back of his neck.”

Levi could feel the heat of Eren’s concerned gaze on the side of his face, but he didn’t care because this was his kill and his botched cover up and his fucking life at stake and he needed to see this Mike guy’s body before his mind completed a full rotation and spun right off his shoulders.

“Levi,” Eren began again, doubt coloring his tone, “I know this is all coming in at once, but maybe we need to think this all through first. I mean, it’s just not practical…”

Levi slowed to a stop, but the sense of urgency setting fire to his synapses only hummed louder through his veins. His fists clenched at his sides, muscles pulling taut as he lowered his head and drew a curtain of bangs over his eyes.

“Eren,” he grit out, voice tumbling like gravel to the ground below. “I need… I have to see it.”

Eren didn’t move beside him and Levi shirked off his pride.

“Please.” It came out nearly a whimper.

He waited for the inevitable rejection, for Eren to call him crazy and laugh at his the anxiety he was wearing like a shroud. It didn’t come. Instead, a warmth settled heavy on his shoulder. Levi tensed with the weight, but as soon as it drifted to brush a familiar path down his neck he felt the stiffness ease from his shoulders.

“Okay,” Eren said softly and suddenly Levi could breathe that much easier. His shoulders slumped and Eren’s hand slid down to wrap around his wrist. They began moving, this time Eren leading them towards the library parking lot and Levi’s car.

“But I call opening the casket.”

***

Levi had always wondered where the river in Ash River Memorial Gardens’ name came from. The cemetery sprawled across several hills overlooking the town, not a body of water in sight. Despite that, he’d always found the place peaceful; up here, the hum of the town couldn’t be heard and the towering oaks provided pools of shadows for the dead to rest in. It was nice, in a morbid way.

“Well, isn’t this romantic? Almost feels like old times, huh?”

Levi shot a look over his shoulder, but Eren just grinned brightly at him. He had a shovel slung over his shoulder and Levi cocked his head at it.

“Where’d you get that?” He didn’t remember stopping to pick one up, but admittedly he was a little out of it the entire ride over.

“Your car,” Eren replied easily, coming to stand beside him.

Levi’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean my car?”

“I keep it in your trunk,” Eren shrugged. “You never know when one might come in handy. Like today!”

Shaking his head wearily, Levi strode forward and between the break in the cemetery gates. He had to duck under the chain, but not as low as Eren did. Once inside, he didn’t hesitate before making for the far side of the largest hill. On the drive over, he’d pulled up the obituaries section of the local newspaper and found Zacharias’. His plot was in Zone C, one of Levi’s favorites. He was pretty familiar with the layout of the cemetery; he’d been coming there to visit his parents for years.

Eren bounced along excitedly beside him, sometimes flitting from one headstone to the next and sometimes peering into the crumbling windows of mausoleums, but always running his mouth in chatter that combated the somber silence that hung in the air. Several times Levi wanted to tell him to shut up or they’d have some concerned neighbor or groundskeeper calling the sheriff on him. In the end he didn’t; at least Eren’s mindless babble gave him something to focus on besides the never ending barrage of thoughts circulating in his head.

Suddenly the air stilled and Levi belatedly realized Eren’s voice had grown quiet. He chanced a glance around, but Eren was nowhere to be seen. The chill of the wind suddenly seemed to cut a little deeper into his exposed skin and Levi wrapped both arms around himself as his eyes flickered almost desperately around him.

“Eren?” he called softly and cringed at how weak he sounded. He should call louder, but he was almost too afraid of what would slink from the shadows to answer.

Which, no. That was fucking stupid, because he wasn’t some goddamn child sneaking around the cemetery to stick knives into graves on a dare. He’d _murdered_ someone for fuck’s sake, had done it in cold blood and was now on his way to dig up a grave and take a look at a corpse. He had to stop acting like a pussy; what would Kenny think if he saw him?

Despite his big words, he couldn’t help but shrink in on himself. The leaves crunched like bones under his feet, the sweet scent of their death wafting up from the twisted figures of their bodies. Gravestones he found peaceful in the light of day took on a menacing edge in the curved moonlight, jutting out of the ground like the uneven grin of some earth-bound monster yet unseen. Even the trees leered down at him, the naked branches clawing desperately at the sky.

“Eren?” he breathed out, voice catching in his throat. There was no answer but the wind and Levi felt the icy touch of fear curl low in his belly. “…Ere _n---”_

The last ended on a yell as something grabbed him from behind. Heart slamming into his ribs, he struggled against its hold until he heard the familiar tenor of a laugh rumbling against his back. Strong arms spun him around and Levi’s knees went weak with relief when he spotted gold eyes dancing with mirth above him.

“Jesus _Christ_ , Eren!” he hissed, punching weakly at the other boy’s shoulder. “Jesus fucking Christ!”

Eren could hardly speak past the laughter bubbling from his throat, eyes screwed tight against the tide of his amusement. “Oh Levi,” he hiccupped, “you shoulda---hihihi---shoulda seen your _face_!”

Levi gritted his teeth, the icy coil of fear quickly evaporating under the white hot wave of rage cracking open in his chest. He pushed at Eren’s shoulder again, harder than before as he fought against the cage of his arms.

“Let me _go_ ,” he growled and Eren slowly sobered as he tightened his hold around Levi’s waist, taut enough he nearly bowed them both over.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself,” he said, the smug grin stretching his mouth wide telling a different story. “Your reactions are always so irresistible.”

Levi sneered, feet slipping in the wet earth below as he writhed in his hold. “Fuck that, Eren, you scared the living shit out of me!”

“Ah, and look at my reward,” Eren purred, dragging a finger across Levi’s panting lips. “You’ve come undone. How completely _obscene_ you are, and in a cemetery no less.”

Levi jerked his head to the side, dislodging Eren’s finger. His heart was racing again, but not in fear this time. “You’re cruel,” he spit out.

“I think you’re the cruel one,” Eren countered, warm breath unfurling like smoke in the air around them, “always looking like _this_.” He emphasized the words with a jerk of his wrist, pulling Levi flush against him from thigh to chest. “You’re always playing me, Levi. I don’t know which way is up around you.”

“Stop,” Levi whispered weakly, eyes clenching shut as Eren leaned down. His breath fanned hot over the shell of Levi’s ear, melting the stiffness from his muscles. He ran gentle hands over the length of Levi’s back and Levi hated how good it felt, how intensely his body responded to the touch.

“See? You tell me to stop but open so prettily in my arms.” He sighed and a shiver wracked Levi’s entire body. “Oh Levi, what am I to do with you…?”

His nose dragged down the column of Levi’s throat and buried itself in the crease of his neck.

“Stop,” Levi mouthed again, but the greater part of his mind that hadn’t melted was telling him to shut up and enjoy the comfort for a while. Lord knew he’d been entirely too stressed, too tired, too _everything_ lately and the heat of Eren’s body wasn’t one he’d have to regret. Eren cared about him, had stuck with him far longer than he’d ever hoped for, and wouldn’t abandon him after this, _couldn’t_. Above everything else, Levi _wanted_. He wanted warmth, and heat, and skin, and anything other than the suffocating crush of loneliness that plagued his every move.

His breath came in harsher pants as he fought against the tide of his own emotions, but before he could come to a decision Eren was pulling back with a sigh. Levi nearly whimpered as Eren’s arms fell from around his waist and his hand twitched with an aborted grab for his shirt.

“Anyway, we’ve got a body to dig up,” Eren chirped sunnily, perfectly composed even as Levi fell apart before him. “Let’s get to it!”

Levi tried to get his breathing under control. Every step Eren took back brought him a little closer to himself. Without the other’s proximity clouding his senses, it all seemed so foolish. Eren didn’t want him, just wanted to mess with him again. He was a toy for him, someone to play with when he got bored with aimlessly killing others. It was a good thing nothing had happened, because it would be that much harder when Eren grew tired of him and left. Because they all left, eventually.

When Levi’s mouth twisted into a scowl, Eren quirked his head. “Listen, I didn’t mean to scare you so bad, promise.”

“Then why did you?”

“Maybe I just wanted to get your heart racing,” he whispered, eyes tracing a trail of fire down Levi’s body.

“Well, congratu- _fucking_ -lations, you succeeded.” Levi lurched to the side and out of the firing ground of that hypnotic gaze, stomping off in the direction he thought Mike’s grave might lay. Without Eren’s touch tempering it, his mind swam again with half-baked theories and anxieties about what they would find in the grave. He was tired, so fucking tired, but he couldn’t rest until he’d seen the body with his own eyes.

“Hey.”

Levi slapped a hand to his forehead, breath puffing out of his chest in an irritated huff. What the fuck more could Eren possibly want? His eyes narrowed when he turned to find Eren shuffling on his feet, shoulders raised and arms hidden behind his back.

“Hey, I really am sorry,” he said, bringing a hand around and holding out a single red rose towards Levi. “I hope you can forgive me.”

Levi regarded the rose a moment before casting his gaze around. His shoulders slumped and his voice came out disbelieving when he noticed a similar bunch behind Eren.

“Eren, did you take that off a fucking grave?”

Eren shrugged. “Hey, they weren’t using it. Besides, the red would look so pretty with your skin tone.”

He reached up and tucked a section of Levi’s hair behind his ear, sliding the rose in and smiling.

“See, I told you,” he grinned, tapping Levi’s nose lightly. “My cute little boyfriend.”

Levi’s face must have betrayed his irritation, because Eren’s own expression dropped. “Please forgive me? I said I’m sorry.”

Levi held his glare for a moment before rolling his eyes and nodding. Eren cheered, brushing a light kiss over Levi’s nose before whispering, “So cute!”

He flounced off further in the cemetery and Levi rolled his eyes again. He wasted no time in ripping the flower from his ear, but didn’t crush it immediately like he thought he would. Instead, he twirled it between his fingers, admiring the soft pooling of moonlight in its petals. It was almost too pretty to just toss away… He tucked it safely into the pocket of his jacket and followed after Eren.

When he finally caught up, Eren had already found Zone C; it was marked with an ornately carved pillar that had sunk slightly into the earth and shifted to the side. Eren swung around it and then stopped neatly in his tracks. Levi followed along at a more sedate pace, peeking under Eren’s shoulder. His eyes widened.

It looked like they didn’t have to search for Mike Zacharias’ grave, because it was right in the middle of the plot, a heaping pile of dirt leaning over its side. Beside him, Eren let out a low whistle.

“Welp, looks like someone beat us to it.”

Mike’s headstone stood straight as a sentinel, diligently guarding over an empty grave.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I feel like I haven't said it enough, so I'm just gonna put it out there: you guys are the best. All of your comments are amazing and so sweet and I love reading everything you all take the time to write out. The support this story has gotten has just blown me over and I appreciate it all. So, thanks:)

Levi gave a shake to his head, hesitating on the first step before practically tumbling to the grave’s edge.

“No no no no no no,” he whispered in a mantra, jerking to a halt only when his sneakers kicked a clump of grass into the hole below. His eyes jerked desperately over every inch of dirt illuminated by the scant moonlight, but there was nothing to see but hard packed walls and a lonely headstone.

“Hey, check this out!”

Levi whirled towards the sound of Eren’s voice, pitched high in laughter.

He didn’t know how he hadn’t noticed it before, but tucked under the large oak tree towering over them was a track hoe. Shrouded as it was in shadow, it looked menacing, a giant monster crouched in wait. Eren had one foot up on its ledge, peering curiously in the window, and Levi had the sudden urge to call him down and spirit him far, far away.

It was then that he noticed the lettering on the side.

“They exhumed him,” he muttered, disbelief catching in his throat.

“Excuse me?” Eren jumped back to the ground and dusted the dirt off his pants.

“They fucking exhumed him,” he said much louder. He made to push his fingers through his hair, stopped himself, then threaded them through anyway. “The cops dug him up. They’re probably inspecting his body right now. Jesus _Christ_.”

A set of footsteps sounded behind him and then Eren was peering over his shoulder into the abyss below. “Well, why would they do that? Didn’t they just bury him?”

Levi shook his head and the motion sent his thoughts clattering across the grass. “No, he’s been in the ground for three months already.”

“Wait, that doesn’t make any sense, Levi,” Eren said slowly, maneuvering Levi a little farther from the edge. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Levi spit out, gesturing to the headstone. “Look at the dates. Three months ago.”

“But you killed Maddie one month ago.”

 Levi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Yes, we’ve already established that.”

“So they killed Mike before you killed Maddie.”

Levi froze. “That’s… I didn’t…”

But it was true and the proof was penned right across Mike’s headstone in an elegant hand. June 25th. Only a week after Levi’s life had turned to shit, but months before he would ever even toy with the idea of killing Maddie. Shit, but that would mean---

“You don’t have a copycat, Levi. You _are_ the copycat.”

Levi’s stomach turned. “But I didn’t, I’ve never even…” He swallowed and his tongue rasped against the roof of his mouth. “I don’t know how it happened, but something is---something is weird, I don’t know---”

Fingers were suddenly underneath his chin, gently guiding Levi’s gaze back to Eren’s own. Levi hated the pity swimming in those eyes, hated the way his gaze seemed to be mocking him with its sincerity.

“I’m not crazy,” he bit out, daring Eren to argue.

“I didn’t say you were.”

“And I didn’t copy anyone,” he pressed, but Eren nodded.

“I believe you.”

Some of the tension drained from his bones, but all that did was leave an ache behind his eyes that threatened to storm into a full blown migraine. His eyelids felt so heavy and he suddenly had trouble keeping them up under the weight of the day.

“Hey,” Eren said softly, ghosting light fingers over his cheek. “Levi.”

“I’m so tired, Eren.” He hadn’t meant to say it, especially hadn’t meant for it to leak out like a plea, but Eren’s fingers were leaving a warm trail over the sharp jut of his cheek and the words fell from his lips thick as blood.

“I know you are, sweetheart,” Eren cooed and Levi shivered. “Let’s get you home.”

That had Levi’s eyes fluttering open (and when had he closed them?). “The body---”

“Can wait for the morning,” Eren admonished gently but with eyes sparking firmly enough to mean it. “You’ve got to get some sleep, Levi. I don’t want it to be _your_ body I’m sneaking in and digging up next.”

Levi didn’t want to know what the hell Eren would be doing with his body and didn’t ask.

“Okay,” he said instead. The smile Eren graced him looked like it would taste like candy, sweet enough that Levi ached for it. When Eren placed a light hand on his shoulders to guide him to the gates, Levi didn’t even tense under the pressure.

It was the first time a touch had been welcome in months.

***

The next day Levi felt simultaneously better and worse.

A full night’s rest had been just what he needed. The morning had brought with it a new energy that hummed in his veins and for once his stomach hadn’t turned at the thought of food. After a hearty breakfast, he thought he could actually function like a normal human being and his thoughts didn’t tangle or float just out of reach like they had the night before. But with the ability to properly work through the night’s events and a full day to brood over them came the eventual conclusion---

“I’m so fucked.”

Eren shifted in his position in the passenger seat. He leaned his head back against the seat rest, bangs falling messily over his eyes as he turned towards Levi.

“Don’t be such a drama queen.”

“I am,” Levi insisted, eyes laser locked on the dark road in front of him. The highway they were on was bordered on both sides by thick foliage, and he had to keep a diligent eye out for the flash of eyes in the dark. “Someone’s using my methods, and whether or not that’s significant they’re still fucking up and leading the cops to me. I’m screwed.”

“That won’t happen.”

It was said with enough confidence that Levi snorted. “You don’t think the sheriff is smart enough to figure it out?”

“Well, I don’t know about that, but it doesn’t really matter if he does or not.”

“Oh, and why is that?”

“Because I’d take care of you.”

Levi didn’t say anything to that, didn’t even chance a glance at the passenger seat. Eren had been doing that more and more lately. It wasn’t even that what he was saying was new; he’d been tossing around phrases like that since the beginning. Now, though, they felt almost raw, like if he touched them they would ache with a truth he wasn’t sure he could understand yet, let alone handle.

Eren noticed his hesitance and threw him a coy smile, eyes flashing in the blue light of the dash.

“Silly Levi. When are you going to figure out that I won’t let anything bad happen to you?”

Eren slipped a hand over his on the gear shift. Levi ignored the shiver that twisted down his spine, instead gazing resolutely out the windshield. He pulled his hand away and slid it over the steering wheel, his knuckles pulling white with the force of his grip.

The headlights bounced over a rundown carpet business on the side of the road and he flicked a finger at it.

“We’re almost there.”

Eren hummed, but he looked distracted, eyes downcast as he watched the passing scenery. Levi let him be as he drove further into town. It wasn’t until he’d pulled in front of a small, yet modern looking building that Levi breached the silence.

“There’ll only be minimal security here, but we should be as quiet as possible anyway.”

Eren didn’t move, so Levi continued.

“The funding in this county is crap, so I know for a fact they don’t have any cameras, but there’s still the possibility of a security guard. We’ve got to be fast, okay?”

Silence.

“Eren, okay?”

“Sure.”

Levi stared hard at the shrug of his shoulders, trying to figure out when the ice had crept into his tone. He almost asked, but they were already running out of time. Whatever it was, it could wait until they were finished up here.

He slid from his seat and rounded the front of the car, eying the sign at the front of the building: _Lafayette County Medical Examiner_. God, even the name sounded creepy.

Eren joined him by the hood and they made their way around the backside of the building. It was almost too easy to slip from shadow to shadow; they hadn’t even bothered to install a floodlight in the alleyway and Levi felt comfortable with only the company of the stars above. Treading lightly, he crouched in front of the single doorway. The lock was industrial size, large and clunky, but Levi had learned on locks worse than this. He pulled his tools out of his backpack and got to work.

“I didn’t know you could pick locks.”

Levi glanced up, blowing the hair out of his eyes. Eren’s head tilted to the side, but his eyes were narrowed rather than wide in his usual childlike curiosity.

“Yeah, part of the family business,” Levi tried to joke, but it only made the corners of Eren’s lips tug down farther. Levi returned his attention to the lock, which somehow seemed an easier challenge than the source of Eren’s mood.

When he’d finally jimmied the lock, the door cracked open without even a squeak. It was probably at that point that the suspicion took root in Levi’s mind, but he ignored it in favor of stepping cautiously inside.

The corridor glowed dimly, lit only by the red haze coming from the Exit sign above them. Levi felt Eren move in close beside him and he was grateful for his support, even if he did have a massive stick up his ass about something.

“This way,” Levi breathed, trusting his instincts and following the door to their right. It opened up to another hallway, this one shrouded completely in shadow. He fumbled for a moment in the middle, not sure where the next door lay in the dark, but Eren pushed up behind him and steered him forward with an arm around his waist. Levi let him lead him, but as soon as they pushed into the next room, Levi’s eyes widened and he shrugged out of his hold.

It wasn’t a hallway this time, but a room that stretched several yards out. The far side shone in the light of a single lamp, illuminating several tables and a small kitchenette. Seated with her back turned to them was a security guard, the light catching on the wild flame of her hair. Levi held his breath, taking several cautious steps back into the safety of the hallway behind him.

Eren acted as his mirror, taking a step forward for every one Levi took back. Grabbing for his sleeve, Levi hissed out, “What are you doing?”

Eren cocked an eyebrow, flicked his head toward the guard. “Well, we gotta take care of her.”

A glint caught Levi’s eye and he took hold of Eren’s arm. He glared in disbelief at the switchblade in his hand. “You were just going to kill her? She didn’t even see us!”

“Yeah, but she’s not just going to hang out in there all night,” Eren said evenly, logically, like he wasn’t casually discussing first degree murder. “Take her out before she sees us.”

“No, no way.”

Eren’s eyes reached skyward as he shuffled on his feet. “Levi, this is not the time for growing some morals---”

“She’s just a guard, she’s probably not even armed,” Levi protested, throwing an arm out in her direction. “We’ll ignore her and keep looking. I bet she doesn’t even leave this room all night.”

A clatter sounded from the room and Eren threw him a look that Levi promptly ignored. He made to step around him, but Levi sidestepped in front of him.

“Eren,” he said, hands tangling in Eren’s shirt as he tilted his head to look up at him. There was  something dancing in Eren’s eyes, something he hadn’t seen for a while, and Levi didn’t like the way it shadowed his face. Without his trademark smile, he looked dangerous, scary even. But a large part of Levi knew Eren would never hurt him so he continued. “Come on. Let’s just go.”

Eren observed him with an unfeeling slant to his eyes before finally huffing and turning his head to the side.

“Fine,” he said lowly, “but if she finds us, I’m not taking responsibility for what will happen.”

Levi nodded slowly, just glad the strange light had left his eyes. He knew it was reckless, but he sometimes forgot that Eren was a serial killer in the most literal of senses. It gave him pause, made his next moves all the more calculated. He sidestepped slowly, arms lowering to the sides as he motioned with his head for Eren to go on ahead of him. Eren regarded him, smile turning sly as he continued on as if he knew what Levi was thinking (and who was he to say he didn’t at this point; sometimes he understood Levi’s thoughts better than Levi did himself). 

Eren took even steps down the hallway, gait more confident than Levi’s had been before. He checked door after door, Levi always right on his heels, until he finally peeked into a room and then shot Levi a grin over his shoulder. Levi blinked at him, a question in the furrow of his eyebrows (whether for the abrupt change in his mood or what lay behind the door he wasn’t sure), but Eren just smiled as he let the door swing open.

Inside lay a whitewashed room, so immaculately clean even the air felt sterile. It was exactly what Levi would expect of an autopsy lab: tiled floor and body lockers and florescent lights (oh my). The only thing that really threw him off was the corpse laid out on a gurney in the middle of the room.

It was gray and shriveled and ugly looking, and even from so far away Levi knew he didn’t want to get any closer. Eren, however, didn’t seem to have the same scruples.   

“Whoa, neat!” he exclaimed, breezing past Levi and right up beside the body. “I’ve never seen one this decomposed before! Oh shit, look at its _hair_!”

“Eren,” Levi hissed, shuffling into the room after him. He was glad for the smile gracing Eren’s lips, but he didn’t like the glee with which he was eying the body. The closer he got to them both, the more pungent the smell became until he was wrapping an arm around his stomach to ward off the nausea. Once he reached the side of the gurney, the rolling in his stomach only amplified.

“Jesus Christ.”

Up this close, it was easy to see that Mike Zacharias hadn’t been handsome in life and death hadn’t been any kinder. His nose took up most of the space on his face, though it had shifted to the side and slightly deflated. His skin hadn’t fared much better; it creased and bunched in patches, almost resembling cottage cheese except for its gray pallor. Dressed in his Sunday best, his suit had a high collar that, paired with the way his mouth opened in an eternal scream, looked like it was choking him. Worst was probably his eyes; the skin of his eyelids had worn through, but there wasn’t much left in the sockets save a jelly that tracked tears of slime down his cheeks. They fixed with unwavering devotion on Levi’s own, begging for an answer for his death that Levi would probably never be able to give him.

He really didn’t think he should be blamed for the squeak that left his lips when the head snapped towards his, its mouth dropping wide to expose the moss growing in its molars.

“What’s wrong, fella? Don’t ya think I’m pretty?”

Levi reared back, but quickly recovered when he noticed the hand under its jaw. He shot a glare at Eren from across the gurney, heart still wheezing in his chest. Eren grinned back at him, but it was the body he made mime out, “You’re too stressed, guy. Look alive up there!”

Levi slapped at Eren’s hand. “Put that down. You’re going to get a disease or something.”

Eren waved him off with the hand not occupied with the dead guy’s chin. “Pish posh, Levi. We’re just having a little fun. Right, Mike?”

“Sure! It’s not like I got anything better to do; I’m dead!”

Eren and the corpse laughed together and Levi had never wanted to shoot himself in the head more than in that moment.

“Hey, hey Mike!” Eren prompted, already biting at his lip to contain his laughter. “Do you know why you died?”

Mike’s jaw creaked as Eren twisted his neck a little. “Well, I’m guessing someone sure had a _bone_ to pick with me!”

Levi grabbed for Eren’s wrist, careful to avoid touching the awful stretch of the corpse’s skin.

“Eren, seriously stop,” he growled out, pulling on his hold.

Eren wrestled for his arm back. “No, we were just starting to have fun!”

“This is disgusting!”

“You’re just jealous ‘cuz he likes me better!”

“He’s a dead body. He doesn’t have feelings!”

“Levi, he can hear you!”

“He can’t because he’s dead!”

“Gimme my arm, Levi!”

“Goddammit Eren!”

 _Crack_.

They both dropped their holds as if electrocuted. Mike’s mandible settled grimly on his chest, detached from the rest of his mouth save for a few strings of skin stretched grotesquely between. His eternal scream was gone; in its place strained a grin so forlorn that Levi felt its twin ache in his own chest.

“Oh dear, look what you’ve done.”

“What I’ve done?” Levi snapped, whirling on his companion.

“Poor dear.” Eren shook his head, gaze fixed on Mike’s decapitated smile. “Well, I suppose his deep throating game will increase pretty exponentially after this. So he’s got that going for him.”

“Eren…” Levi trailed off, shaking his head. They really should have a little talk about what constituted appropriate behavior and how playing with dead people definitely didn’t make the list, but he didn’t want to upset him again so he refrained.  

But Eren looked offended anyway. “What, Levi? _What_?”

“Nothing.”

It really wasn’t the time to scold the kid for taking death so lightly. Instead of pressing, Levi brought his face a little closer to the corpse (even after this long of an exposure, its stench burned a line of fire down his throat and he choked on the cloying taste of death).

“I don’t see anything,” he said, eyes watering as he bent closer. “But I might just need to look closer. Do you see anything interesting?”

“I don’t know, Levi. It’s not like you’ve told me what we’re even looking for.”

Levi looked up at that. Eren’s mood from before seemed to have swung back and anchored in fast. His head was turned to the side, frown twisting his lips into a pout. Levi sighed.

“Eren…”

“Excuse me?”

Levi whirled around at the sound of a deep voice. A figure stood in the doorway, the tail of their lab coat just kissing their ankles. They stood tall, maybe six feet at least, with a shock of wild hair caught at the nape of their neck in a tangled ponytail. He couldn’t make out their expression, their eyes obscured by goggles that covered half their face, but there was only one person they could be.

“Dr. Hanji.”

“That’s me,” they said brightly, glasses winking in the harsh light of the room. “Now the question is: who are you?”

Levi hesitated, shooting a glance Eren’s way. All it would take was one little move from the doctor and Eren would kill them and they’d be in some deep shit; it’s one thing to take out the casual low life and street goer, an entirely different thing to murder the county’s highest paid medical doctor.

“We’re… we’re uh…”

“Students,” Eren butted in, eyes flashing dangerously in Levi’s direction even as he saved both their asses. “We heard there was a dead body, got curious.”

Dr. Hanji regarded them both skeptically for a moment before grinning brightly. “Students! Well, that’s fantastic! I always encourage scientific curiosity and advancement! Please, please gather round!”

Levi watched in confused awe as they ambled in closer, snapping on a pair of gloves taken from a box on the wall and squeezing in beside Levi. He didn’t really know how they had so easily accepted that explanation, but he wasn’t going to question it. They grinned, poking and prodding  at the body for a moment before regarding Levi.

“Now what school did you two say you came from?”

Levi opened his mouth to reply but Eren beat him to it.

“We didn’t. I’m from Belleview High.” He shot Levi a glare. “He’s from the University of Douchebag. Top of his class.”

“Oh marvelous,” they muttered, entirely too focused on snapping Mike’s mandible back in place to catch the look exchanged between the two boys beside them. “Great schools, great schools. Now, was there anything in particular you wanted to see?”

“The killing wound,” Levi said, making sure he did so before Eren could answer. “We’d like to know how he died.” 

Dr. Hanji snorted. “Typical. But hey, I can’t judge. I remember my first body too.” Their gaze drifted off, a nostalgic wonder clouding their eyes. “The adrenaline, the curiosity, the screaming.” They sighed. “Good times, good times.”

“Yeah, well Levi wouldn’t know good times if they smacked him in the face.”

Levi widened his eyes, mouthing, “What are you doing?” but Eren’s glare didn’t waver under the heat of Levi’s own.

“Oh, you students,” Dr. Hanji sighed, peeling back the tangle of the body’s hair. “Never taking time for fun anymore. You guys gotta loosen up, I swear. Get a significant other, for God’s sake.”

“Not like Levi knows how to treat one anyway.”

“Eren,” Levi hissed, but Eren cut him off by slamming his hands down on the gurney and rocking Mike’s body.

“No, listen up,” he growled. “I’m tired of this. You don’t play around with me, you don’t laugh at my jokes, you don’t even let me hold your frickin’ hand! I want to know more about you and your life, but you haven’t told me _anything_. I don’t even know why we’re here; who are you even looking for?”

Levi couldn’t believe that Eren was bringing this up _now_ of all times. “Eren, _shut up_ \---”

“No, _you_ shut up!” Eren threw both hands in the air, shoulders hunched by his ears. “I have been trying really, really hard in the last month. I’ve done things I don’t usually do, and you haven’t done the same for me. Quid pro quo, Clarice! You know what, though? I could live with that, with you not ever giving back, but you don’t even let me touch you!” He grabbed Mike’s arm, waved it around. “I’ve gotten farther with this frickin’ dead guy than I have with you!”

“I hear you, brother,” Hanji piped up, eyes not moving from their work turning Mike onto his side.

Levi tried to take advantage of the brief reprieve, but Eren cut him off. “Sometimes I just feel like you’re using me and---”

Levi’s attention flitted away when Hanji removed a stitch in Mike’s neck and his head listed enough to the side that he almost saw its base. He leaned down for a better look, but Eren snorted loud enough to gain his attention again.

“Of course,” he huffed, tossing an arm out. “Of course. You know what, just, just stay! You stay and look at your little corpse and don’t come crying to me when you need any more help.”

He stormed to the end of the room and Levi called after him.

“Eren, Eren wait!”

Eren didn’t waiver, just knocked a beaker to the floor and stomped out of the room. Torn, Levi’s gaze flicked back and forth between Mike’s body and the door Eren had retreated through.

“You better chase your honey, Mr. Ackerman.”

Levi froze as he carefully looked over to Dr. Hanji. They were dabbing at a sore on Mike’s neck and taking samples, but spared him a glance over their goggles.

“How…” Levi trailed off and they snorted.

“Please, I’ve been handling your uncle’s handiwork for years. Took some time to get to know your family, thought it might come in handy someday.”

Levi knew he was supposed to feel threatened, but half his attention was still focused on the door at the end of the room. His feet shuffled uneasily below him, a movement Dr. Hanji didn’t miss.

“I can see you need to go,” they chuckled, “so I’ll tell you what you need to know. The killing blow was quite unusual, but not so for your family.”

 Levi nearly gasped as they lifted the body’s head and easily positioned it to the side. There, clear as day, was a mottle of bruises that coincided around a slit at the base of the neck.

“Severed the spinal cord right in two,” they tutted, shaking their head. “Takes quite a bit of skill.”

Levi was still reeling from the new bit of information even as they fixed eyes dark as mud on him. “But something that takes even more skill is convincing someone that they mean something to you. I think you better get started on that.”

Levi nodded slowly, already backing out of the room. There was a lot swimming in his mind, but first and foremost was the thought that he had to find Eren before he wandered too far off. He’d almost made it to the door before they called out to him.

“And Levi?”

He shot a glance behind him, but they directed their words down at the corpse in their hands. “I’d stop looking for Kenny if I were you. That man’s more trouble than he’s worth.”

Levi swallowed roughly, but gave a brief nod of his head. He tried to shake the shiver out of his spine, but the doctor’s words followed him all the way to the parking lot. When he reached the beginning of the blacktop, he stopped in his tracks.

Eren made a lonely figure, perched on the hood of Levi’s car. One of his feet swung dully back and forth, holding in it all of the excitement of a hanging noose. Levi sighed and took his time shuffling over. His footsteps fell lonely in the empty lot, sounding far too loud for one person. He comforted himself with the thought that Eren hadn’t left yet, so there was still some hope for salvaging the situation.

He gingerly slid in beside Eren, enough space between them to fit all the things that needed to be said. Sighing again, he hedged, “Eren?”

Aside from a tightening of his jaw, nothing.

“Eren, please. Talk to me.”

“I already said everything I needed to.”

Which, fair.

Levi hated talking, hated socializing, hated himself sometimes for being so awkward. But, Eren needed this and maybe Levi himself needed it too, so he was going to suck it up and talk enough for the both of them.

“I’m bad at this,” he began, gesturing between the two of them. “Bad at…talking. And friends and”---he hesitated---“ _boyfriends_ and all that shit. But…”

He huffed, tucking his chin more firmly into the lip of his sweater. “I owe it to you to be better. You’re right, I haven’t returned everything you have, which is. A dick move, I guess.” Another sigh. “I guess what I’m saying is…”

Shit, what was he saying? Eren was looking at him now, eyes embodied with the souls of the stars themselves and Levi sniffed harshly. Maybe he couldn’t say it, but---

He hid his face in his shoulder as he blindly reached over and slid his fingers over Eren’s. They were warm, considerably warmer than his own, and he couldn’t at all imagine how they could feel comforting or supportive or whatever the fuck hand holding was supposed to be, but Eren turned his hand over and slid his palm up to press against Levi’s and yeah, he had to admit that it felt pretty good, _really good,_ to have tossed himself out blindly for Eren to catch and for him to return the gesture---

Oh. He kind of got Eren’s point.

But Eren had wanted more, hadn’t he? Levi pressed his face more firmly into his sleeve and blew a steady stream of air out of his lungs.

“I’m looking for my uncle,” he said, and God it hurt to force even that much out. “He disappeared. Three…” He paused. “I guess four months ago. I don’t know, time has been a little weird lately. But he’s gone and I’ve been looking for him. I don’t really have anyone else, except…”

No, he couldn’t go that far. Not yet, at least.

“And he---my uncle, his name is Kenny---he told me that, that if anything ever happened, to find Maddie Porter. And I did and now… well, now we’re here. Looking for him. So that’s why.”

He licked his lips, his throat feeling horribly raw, and tried to suffocate himself in the fabric of his jacket. God, could he have been any more awkward? Eren probably hadn’t even understood a single thing he’d said. The heat in his cheeks was doing nothing for the ice settling deep in his chest and he started to recoil his arm to wrap it around himself, but Eren’s grip tightened before he could.

“Thank you.”

Levi peeked out from beneath his bangs. Eren’s grin was so wide it looked like it hurt. His eyes though… Levi had been wrong about them holding the souls of the stars. They were filled with entire galaxies, so deep and bright and eternal that Levi found himself caught in their pull.

“I know how hard that was to say, how hard _this_ is,” he continued, squeezing Levi’s hand. “But it”---he dropped his gaze, grinned even wider---“it makes me really happy. So, thank you.”

Levi blinked and slowly lifted his head. Eren’s grin turned a little sweeter, a little softer, and he scooted over until the space between them couldn’t possibly hold anything more. His grip on Levi’s hand didn’t loosen and when he dropped his head to rest on top of Levi’s, he sighed contentedly.

“Don’t worry about anything, Levi,” he said softly. “I’ll help you find your family and deal with the cops and anything else you want, okay? We’ll do it together, I promise.”

With the promise of Eren’s palm against his own, Levi couldn’t say anything other than, “Okay.”

He turned his eyes to the sky, watching the cosmos in rapt attention, but he didn’t bother with the stars above them. They wouldn’t compare anyway.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading guys:)

The thing about murdering people and desecrating bodies in the evenings was that you still had to go to school the next day.

Levi had spent a grand total of six hours that weekend actually engaged in any sleep; the rest he’d dedicated to untangling the hopeless web of his thoughts and flipping through a list of everyone he knew in search of someone who could be using the same MO as him. What he’d come up with was this: he knew absolutely fucking nothing. Which wasn’t exactly a new thought, but disturbing just the same.

But all that really amounted to was a migraine the size of Texas and another layer of black smudged under his eyes as he pulled up in front of the school. Well, as Eren pulled up in front of the school, Levi his unwilling passenger.

 “I don’t want to be here.”

Eren laughed, eyes holding no sympathy. “You’re the one who wants to keep his alibi up. Wouldn’t want to get caught skipping, would you?”

“I think I’ll take my chances,” Levi said, morosely eyeing the scramble of students in the parking lot. God, he hated high schoolers. “I’ll just hang out with you today.”

Eren threw the car in park and turned towards him. “Levi, we talked about this. I have errands to run and you have school. Besides, if we spend all our time together, the novelty will wear off and you’ll start to hate me. We can’t have that now, can we?”

Levi snorted. He was pretty sure it was the other way around, but he didn’t bother arguing. Gazing out the window, he couldn’t help but tap out a disjointed rhythm on his thigh. School had been getting harder and harder to attend. Not only did he have to pretend to care about his classes and deal with all the awkward teenage angst that practically permeated the halls, but it also took away from time he could be using to look for Kenny. It was horrible and draining and he hated always looking over his shoulders every two seconds and---

He gaze snapped back to Eren. “Are you sure I can’t stay with you?”

The glow from the early morning sun lay like bronze over Eren’s skin and only highlighted the soft pull of his smile. “Sorry sweetheart. But I promise I’ll pick you up right after. Does that sound okay?”

Levi nodded, dropping his gaze. He knew he had to go in, but it was almost a physical ache to rip himself from the car right now. It took a certain willpower he didn’t know he had to reach over and pull the handle of the door. Before he could get out though, there was a clearing of a throat behind him. He swiveled in his seat.

Eren had both eyebrows cocked high on his forehead, an expectant look spread across his face. Levi sighed, because yeah the… boyfriend… thing. He reached a tentative hand over and threaded his fingers through Eren’s own and gave a brief squeeze. He’d thought that would be enough to at least pacify Eren for a while, but his expectant look didn’t even waver.

Levi huffed out a breath, cheeks darkening as he glanced down. He knew what Eren wanted. It was with eyes squeezed shut and bated breath that he leaned over and placed a quick peck to Eren’s cheek. When he pulled back, Eren grinned like Levi had given him a gift. Levi hated how easily Eren was able to bend him to his will, but he hated how much he liked it even more.

“Thanks Levi,” Eren said, reaching up to draw a caress down the slope of Levi’s neck. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

Levi jerked out a nod, avoiding eye contact as he maneuvered himself out of the car. He began the trek up to the school, the heat of Eren’s heavy gaze on his back doing nothing to suppress the blush still riding high on his cheeks.

Most of the day went by quickly. None of his teachers decided to saddle them with any group discussions or labs, so he was free to let his mind wander as they droned on about topics he didn’t even care about. He spent most of the day with his eyes glued to the clock, ticking down the moments before he could leave and see Eren again.

His mind stuttered over the thought and he sat up from his slouch in the middle of his Calculus class. He’d meant so he could leave and get back to researching. Their new lead had burnt out and he needed to figure out their next move before time ran out, that was his main priority right now. And he _did_ want to do that, realized that he did want to spend the evening wrapped up in the library, but not for research or to study but because Eren made the cutest faces when reading and would brush their legs together from time to time to get his attention and---

Levi barely noticed as the bell rang and he poured out into the hallway with the other students.

What the fucking _hell_ was he thinking? Finding Kenny was more important than anything else at the moment; this was his _family_ that was missing, and he couldn’t be wasting time lamenting over the way Eren laughed or looked at him or held him so sweetly. Besides, Eren was fucking crazy and a murderer and probably a whole slew of other things Levi would never know. He couldn’t be caught up in his smile and his laugh and the way he would smile and laugh at _Levi_ \---

Okay, so maybe he was lonely, but the only way to remedy that was to find his family. Kenny may not have been the most loving of caretakers, but he’d been there to take Levi in when no one else had, so that had to count for something. As for _her_ …well, she was his everything and he wouldn’t fail her like this. They were his priority and nothing else could get in the way.

And yet… there was a small part of himself, one that had been used and abused and trampled one too many times, that whispered that no one else had ever made him feel so special, had never taken his breath away with just the heat of their gaze. Eren had seen Levi at his worst and still stuck around, and it made Levi wonder why he was fighting so hard against this when Eren treated him better than anyone else had in his entire _life_ \---

He suddenly collided with something solid and went spinning into the water fountain. He didn’t have time to brace against the starburst of pain in his hipbone before someone was addressing him, “Oh shit, sorry dude! You okay---?”

And then there was a hand coming towards him and Levi didn’t think before he was throwing a fist out to counter it. There was a sickening crunch and warmth on his knuckles and then he was coming back to himself in time to see red gushing over a nose and lips. The kid in front of him had both hands clutched over his face, blood pooling between his fingers, but it was the abject terror in his eyes that had Levi’s stomach rolling. He drew his gaze away from the nose he was almost sure was broken to find that all motion in the hallway had stopped, every eye turned on him with variations of the same emotions: fear, disgust, and anger.

He tried to move, apologize or fucking _something_ , but his body felt just as frozen as it had when Eren had been playing with the lives of Pixis and Connie. His breath wheezed too fast through his lungs and shadows started to spot the edges of his vision, and still those accusing eyes were staring at him from all directions. And they were right, because he had hurt someone for no other reason than that they were going to touch him, and he was basically a monster and this was just further proof of that and he shouldn’t even be allowed to walk around because---

Warm arms suddenly took him by the shoulders and began steering him away, and he couldn’t do anything other than lean into their touch and follow along. Accusing eyes were still fixated on him, but at least they parted as he was ushered through.

The overbearing silence trailed after them all the way through the doors outside and then to the parking lot, but now that he could actually squeeze a breath in, he leaned more heavily into the presence at his side. He wasn’t sure how Eren had known he’d needed him, but was grateful enough that he didn’t dare question it. Looking up, he made to properly thank him, but paused when he noticed that the sunlight was reflecting off golden hair and dark eyes, the reversal of what he’d been expecting.

“Hey, you okay?” Farlan asked and Levi blinked up at him in bewilderment.

“What are you doing here?”

Farlan’s brows furrowed. “You were just standing there, Levi. I had to get you out.”

“No, that’s not…” Levi shook his head, pulling from his grip. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

Levi didn’t think he imagined the shame that pulled like a shroud over Farlan’s features. “Oh. Well, I, um, thought you could use some help. You looked kinda out of it.”

Levi shook his head again, trying to clear out his thoughts. He was kind of out of it, _still_ was kind of out of it.

“Hey,” Farlan continued, “where’s your car? You should really get home while you’re like this.”

“I can’t miss any more school.”

Farlan shuffled nervously. “It’d probably be a good idea to get out for a little while, give things time to settle down.”

That was true, but he still didn’t like the idea. “I don’t have my car.”

Farlan pulled his keys from his back pocket. “No problem. I’ll take you.”

Levi finally met Farlan’s gaze. There was something there, an unspoken plea choking in the gray, and as much as Levi didn’t want to, years of friendship conditioned him to say, “Okay.”

***

The car ride was just as awkward as Levi had thought it would be.

He could tell that Farlan had so much he wanted to talk about, but couldn’t figure out how to bring it up. He kept scratching at his neck, a stress habit he’d formed years ago, and Levi wanted to reach across the car and stop him before he clawed his own skin off. All the stress was starting to bleed into the air and Levi found himself feeling bad that his presence had Farlan so upset. Even after everything that had happened, Farlan had been his closest friend for years, and that they’d gotten to a point where just being around each other was this hard left him feeling sick.

“Bad headache?”

Levi startled when Farlan’s voice cut through the air and he turned a confused look on him. “What?”

“You’re rubbing at your eyes,” Farlan said, avoiding his gaze. “You do that when you have a headache.”

Levi pulled his arms a little closer to his body, realizing that his head was pounding in time with the beat of his heart. He’d forgotten how well Farlan could always read him and it was a tad unnerving.

 “Yeah, I guess.”

They sat in a strained silence for a couple more moments before Farlan abruptly barked out a laugh.

“Fuck, this is awkward,” he said, fingers tightening on the wheel. “I feel like I’m some pubescent boy asking you out to the 8th grade mixer.”

Levi hesitated a moment before hedging, “You say that as if you ever matured past the mindset of an 8th grader.”

“You got me there,” Farlan chuckled, looking less like he was going to have a stroke. “I guess that’s why we made such a good pair. You were enough of an old man for the both of us.”

Levi snorted, turning to hide a smirk in the collar of his jacket. It had been so long since they’d talked he had forgotten how much he missed it, how much he’d missed Farlan himself. When he glanced back up, Farlan smiled at him, some of the weariness seeming to fall from his shoulders.

“It’s good to see you smile again,” he said and Levi shrugged.

“Hasn’t been much to smile about lately.”

“Yeah, I know,” Farlan mumbled, and Levi wished he hadn’t said anything at all.

They turned onto a gravel road and Levi didn’t ask how he knew the way to the sheriff’s house. He seemed to be struggling with something in his mind before he sighed harshly.

“Listen Levi, I really fucked up our last conversation---”

“If this is going to be another apology,” Levi interrupted, “I don’t want to hear it.”

He didn’t have to look to see the crumple of Farlan’s face, but only until Levi said, “I already accepted the first one.”

This time he did look over. Farlan’s eyes were wide and Levi answered the question he saw reflected there. “I’m tired of us not being able to talk, so if you’re willing to get over it then I am too.”

“Wait, but Levi---”

“The only thing I want to know is why.”

Farlan’s mouth shut with an audible click, and Levi sighed as he turned away.

“The first thing I did after they disappeared was call you, Farlan. Several times. I kept thinking maybe you didn’t have your phone or were busy, but weeks went by and you still wouldn’t answer. I spent every day drinking sludge at the sheriff’s department and ignoring the way everyone kept looking at me like I was so fucking pitiful and wondering why the fuck you wouldn’t talk to me when everything in my life was falling apart.” Levi felt the emptiness that had lived in his bones in the months before Eren showed up seeping back up, and he curled farther in on himself. “And then school started and you wouldn’t look me in the eye, and I knew that you hated me and I couldn’t fucking figure out _why_.”

“Levi---”

He ignored the pleading in his tone. “Did you blame me? Is that why you wouldn’t talk to me? Because it was my fault?”

“ _No_ Levi---”

“I blame me.” He said it with a self-deprecating laugh tossed in. “It’s okay ‘cuz I blame me too.” 

And then the car was slamming to a stop and Farlan’s arms were wrapping forcefully around him and Levi was falling willingly into him and clutching just as hard back because he missed him more than he could even understand and maybe Farlan _didn’t_ hate him because he was keeping up a constant mantra of, “I didn’t blame you, Levi, of _course_ fucking not, it wasn’t your fault, it wasn’t your fault, I don’t hate you, I promise,” and it washed like a tide over Levi, not erasing all the hurt, not even close, but maybe making it a little easier to bear.

He didn’t know how long they sat like that, only that the car was still running and they were parked in front of the sheriff’s house when he finally collected himself enough to look up. Farlan’s eyes were rimmed red, but he wore a smile, small as it was. When he found Levi’s gaze, it grew.

“So that happened.”

Levi answered with a small smile of his own. He ducked his head and ran a hand through his hair before finally clearing his throat.

“Yeah, uh, it did.”

Farlan didn’t seem to know what to say after that and Levi sure as hell knew even less, so he finally blurted out the first thing he thought of.

“Want to come inside?”

***

It felt weird showing Farlan around the house. He was used to him practically living with him before, so now that he had to point out where the bathroom was or offer him a drink it was disorienting, to say the least.

“It’s nice,” Farlan said, admiring the wall of photos in the living room. “Very homey.”

“As compared to Kenny’s place, right?”

Farlan snickered, no doubt remembering the bare walls, shag carpets, and empty rooms of Kenny’s old house. Levi had hated it there, used to spend as much time as possible anywhere else, but he’d do almost anything for the house to be whole and unbroken instead of the burnt out husk it was now.

“Yeah, but that’s not too hard,” Farlan agreed before plopping down on the couch, Levi following. His eyes tracked Levi’s movements and caught the wince as he made to sit beside him.

“Whoa, what’s up?” he asked, reaching for Levi before thinking better of it and pulling his hand back.  

Levi shrugged, rubbing gingerly at his side. “I don’t know. I think I just hit my side when that guy ran into me earlier.”

“Here, let me see.”

Farlan hovered a hand over Levi’s waist until Levi shrugged and looked away. Farlan took it as the permission it was and tentatively bunched up the fabric. He gasped when he revealed the pale jut of Levi’s hipbone and the considerable bruising that already covered it.

“Shit Levi,” Farlan breathed, bending down to get a closer look. “You got this when you were shoved?”

Levi shrugged again. “I hit a water fountain.”

“And the water fountain won.”

Levi huffed as Farlan shoved to his feet and made for the kitchen. When he came back in, he was carrying a frozen chicken pot pie. He blushed when Levi cocked an eyebrow at the box.

“What? It’s all you guys had,” he defended, settling down beside Levi. “Sorry, this is gonna be cold.”

Levi winced at the first cool touch of the box, but he had to admit that it did help combat some of the ache. He slid his hand over the box and Farlan dropped his hand.

“You know,” Farlan said lowly, “when you punched that guy out, it reminded me of when you were pissed at Kenny. When you started hanging out with Annie---”

“I thought we didn’t talk about that anymore?” Levi cut him off before he could finish the thought. He didn’t like remembering that time.

“It was just a thought,” Farlan said conversationally, eyes focused on the press of the makeshift ice pack over his side. “You’re such a badass sometimes, Levi.”

“I think you mean pain in the ass.”

Farlan chuckled. “That too.”

They sat in silence for a while more. Now that they’d had the inevitable talk (and Levi still wasn’t sure if they’d really solved all the hurt there), Levi wasn’t really sure where to start. He was used to Eren taking over the conversation and steering it along, and now that he was the one who needed to say something his mind had gone blank. It was extremely frustrating, especially since Farlan had always been someone he’d had no trouble talking with.

“Here,” Farlan huffed out, saving Levi the trouble of breaking the silence, “let’s take a look at it again. I want to see if some of the swelling has gone down.”

Levi knew it was a cop out--- it hadn’t even been five minutes and the swelling wouldn’t have gone down that easily---but he was grateful for the distraction so he nodded and peeled the box from his side. The bruise sat just as mottled as ever, the green and blue already striking a stark contrast against the ivory of his skin.

Farlan moved for a closer look, and Levi didn’t like how close he was. He flinched when Farlan brought a hand up to touch, and Farlan smiled sheepishly at him. When he moved this time, he did so much slower, eyes on Levi’s reactions the whole time. He settled a palm on Levi’s side, eyes narrowed worriedly as he probed at the bruise. Levi didn’t tell him, but it ached every time he brushed its edges.

“I’m so sorry, Levi,” he murmured, and Levi knew he was talking about more than the bruise. He straightened, hand still firmly on Levi’s side, and met Levi’s gaze. “I know I didn’t really give you a reason for what I did. I want to, but---”

“You want to _what_ , exactly?”

Levi jerked back and to his feet when he noticed Eren leaning casually against the doorway. His lips were set in a grin, but his eyes were so dark they reflected the light of the overhead in their depths.

“Eren,” Levi rasped, trying to breathe past the lump of heart in his throat. “What are you doing here?”

“I could be asking you the same thing, Mr. Class Cutter,” Eren teased as he strode over and pulled Levi into his arms. “If I’d known you were that desperate to skip school, I wouldn’t have taken you this morning.”

“I didn’t cut, I just…” He struggled for something, not wanting to tell Eren that he couldn’t even handle school without him any longer. It was made all the harder for the way Eren was palming lowly at the base of his spine, eyes shining as he smiled down at him. “I, um…”

“He got hurt. I drove him home.”

Eren’s gaze cut over to Farlan, and Levi meant that in the most literal of senses.

“And you are?” he asked, the disdain dripping from his tone.

Farlan looked unsure, but still lifted his chin resolutely. “I’m Farlan. Levi’s friend.”

Eren cocked his head then grinned in recognition and Levi didn’t like the way it pulled at his lips. “Oh, you mean the one who abandoned him and treated him like shit?” Levi smacked at Eren’s hand, but he continued. “Hey man, don’t worry about that anymore. I found him and it’s all good now. I take real good care of my boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?” Farlan seemed to have trouble fitting the word in his mouth and looked to Levi for confirmation. Levi didn’t meet his gaze and that was probably telling enough.

“Anyway,” Eren said sunnily, arms squeezing almost stiflingly tight around Levi’s ribcage, “if you could just mosey on out, Levi and I have boyfriend things to do.”

Farlan’s eyes lit up and Levi hated how everyone he knew was so stupidly stubborn.

“No way am I leaving you alone with him. I don’t even know who you fucking are---”

“Farlan.”

Two sets of eyes snap towards him and he suddenly felt like the heroine in some stupid paranormal love triangle. He sighed again, closing his eyes against the betrayal he knew he was going to see in Farlan’s eyes.

“Can you leave? Please? We’ll talk tomorrow, I promise.”

And he was right, betrayal did run through Farlan’s eyes, but so did shock, hurt, and maybe even a little bit of guilt. It hurt Levi too, all of it, but when Farlan finally nodded all he could feel was a relief settle over his bones.

“Okay, I’ll leave,” Farlan said, gathering his jacket and keys, “but you can call me if you need me, Levi. Anytime. Talk to you tomorrow.”

The last bit sounded like a threat more than a promise and as much as Levi was glad that he and Farlan were finally talking again, he already didn’t like the possessive way he was being treated.

“Yeah, see you later, Farlan!” Eren called as Farlan slipped out the door. “I hope you slip and break your neck on the way out.”

“Eren,” Levi chastised, but as soon as he said it the ground disappeared from beneath his feet.

“Wait, what?” he gasped, but Eren didn’t meet his gaze as he hoisted Levi up and then laid him out over the couch. Levi struggled to sit up, but Eren’s hand spread huge and warm across his chest and pressed him back down. Those same hands ripped his shirt up and over his head and all of the air in Levi’s chest left in one strangled gasp as they began roaming over every inch of exposed skin.

“He touched you, Levi,” Eren mouthed into the side of Levi’s throat. “I told you I didn’t like him touching you and you let him do it.”

“I didn’t---” Levi bit out but it ended on a gasp as Eren trailed both hands up his arms and wrenched them over his head.

“You _did_ ,” he insisted, and Levi had never felt so exposed underneath someone’s gaze.

“He touched you _here_ ”---Eren dropped down to press opened mouthed kisses against the bruise on his hipbone and Levi arched into the ache---“and _here_ ”---a quick nip to the ball of his shoulder before he was knocking a nose to Levi’s. “Where else did he touch you, Levi?”

Levi wanted to answer, wanted to breathe out “everywhere” so that there would be no inch of his skin left unexplored by Eren’s hands and lips, but he couldn’t suck in enough air with Eren’s mouth just inches from his own. Eren grinned when he noticed.

“Was it here, Levi,” he whispered, finger coming up to drag down Levi’s lips. “Did you let him kiss you? Am I going to have to erase his touch from your lips as well?”

Levi nodded, didn’t care what he was agreeing to as long as Eren put his body back to his, but then Eren was smiling in a way that had become all too familiar and pulling back.

“No, wait!” Levi gasped, reaching for him, but Eren only took his hands between his own and shook his head.

“Silly Levi,” he said, “letting all the boys touch you. You’re going to drive me crazy, I just know it.”

He stood and maybe Levi’s desolation showed on his face because he suddenly swooped in low and kissed Levi’s forehead. Drawing a caress down his cheek, he smiled.

“I know you didn’t mean anything by it, sweetheart. It’s okay.” His eyes suddenly hardened. “But if he ever touches you like that again, I can’t promise _he_ will be.”

And then he was settling down to Levi’s laptop, pulling up a YouTube video and giggling like he hadn’t left Levi a panting mess on the couch.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so this chapter is kinda filler (ew, I know), but I promise the next couple will be really plot driven and have lots of killing (yay!). Also, it's a little rushed because this week sucked. Sorry, but I promise next week will be way better! Anyway, thank you so much for the continued support--- I never thought this story would receive such incredible feedback and I'm just totally blown away by how kind you all are. You guys are the best:)

“Hey, so about those errands I was running earlier.”

Levi let his head roll across the back of the couch until he could see Eren beside him. He hadn’t bothered to move much since Farlan left and Eren practically assaulted him, but he had successfully maneuvered back into his shirt and garnered some semblance of control over his breathing, so he counted that as a win.

“Errands?” he asked, the words sticking thickly to his tongue. He hated that he was still feeling slightly dizzy from the way Eren had touched him while Eren didn’t seem to be bothered by the encounter at all.

“Yeah,” Eren said, lounging against the couch with his legs crossed, “errands. You know, when I took your car?”

“Oh. Yeah.”

Levi hadn’t particularly cared what Eren had done when he’d said he needed the car earlier, but now that he’d brought it up he probably should have. For all he knew, Eren had gone on a killing spree and there was a pile of bodies in his trunk.

“Yeah well, I went and saw Annie Leonhart.”

All the muscles in Levi’s body went rigid and he slowly raised his head to look Eren in the eye.

“You did _what_?”

“I went and saw her at her job,” Eren shrugged, leaning his head on an arm propped against the couch back. “She works at an amusement park, isn’t that fun?”

“I told you we weren’t going after her!” Levi felt his fists clench on his knees, mind suddenly clearing in time for a surge of red to cross his vision. “She’s dangerous, I fucking told you!”

Eren waved him off. “Nah, she sells cotton candy by the kid’s section. She’s not scary at all!”

“Cotton candy isn’t the only thing she sells, Eren. It’s a fucking cover.”

Eren’s mouth dropped down and he laughed. “Oh, that makes so much sense! I wondered why she asked me if the candy was all I wanted. I thought she was just trying to get in my pants.”

Levi shot to his feet. “You _talked_ to her?”

Eren shrugged. “Well yeah, I was doing reconnaissance. I had to cover all my bases.”

“Jesus Christ, Eren,” Levi muttered, turning to pace across the room and pull at his hair. “Jesus _Christ_.” 

“Hey,” Eren said, suddenly blocking Levi’s path. He placed hands on either of Levi’s shoulders and forced him to meet his gaze. “What’s got you so freaked out?”

Levi jerked his gaze away, eyeing a ring stain on the coffee table instead. “Nothing. I just thought we agreed we wouldn’t mess with her.”

Eren tossed his head. “Yeah, but we haven’t gotten anywhere for a month, Levi. The case is getting cold.”

“We went and saw Mike’s body---”

“That was just because you thought you had a copycat, not to find your uncle,” Eren said and Levi knew he was right. “We haven’t found any leads for so long I’m beginning to think you don’t care anymore---”

“Shut the fuck up, Eren,” Levi hissed, trying to dodge out of Eren’s hold but not getting far.

“Listen Levi,” Eren said as he gripped his arm firmly, “I know you’re upset and freaked out, but I’ll keep you safe from her. I promise.”

Levi wrenched at his grip. “That’s not it---”

“You gotta have some faith in me.” Eren wouldn’t drop his gaze.

“I _do_.”

“I won’t disappear like your family, okay?”

Levi finally pulled out from under Eren’s arm and stormed for the staircase. He rubbed at his eyes, thoughts a tangled mess. “I can’t deal with this right now.”

“Levi---”

Levi didn’t let him finish.

"I'm going to bed. We'll talk later."

He didn't bother to wait for a reply, taking the stairs two at a time and shutting himself in his room. The telltale snick of his lock echoed loudly in the ensuing silence.

***

Levi woke three hours later to his heart beating madly in his throat and sweat soaked sheets.

He jerked to a sitting position, leaning his head over his knees to try and quell the roll of his stomach. The room was dark, shadows settling over his bed like a shroud, but the dreams he’d woken from were even darker. He wanted to claw out all the memories running through his head, gouge out his eyes and with them all the images they’d ever seen, but when he dug his fingernails into his eyelids there was suddenly a pressure on the base of his spine.

“I wouldn’t do that, sweetheart. I’m quite fond of your eyes.”

Levi didn’t even jump, all too used to Eren popping up where he wasn’t supposed to be. He tiredly looked over his shoulder. Eren was sprawled in bed beside him, twisted so that he could meet Levi’s gaze. With the way he was positioned, Levi’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Were you watching me sleep?”

Eren pursed his lips. “I was worried about you.”

“That’s really creepy,” Levi said without any bite. “How did you even get in here? I locked the door.”

“But not the window.”

Levi couldn’t help but snort, sinking back into his pillows but keeping his eyes trained on the ceiling.

“This is getting a little too paranormal romance for me,” he said, and when Eren laughed he could feel its warmth against his neck.

“Trust me, Levi. I want to do a lot more to you than suck your blood.”

“Disgusting.”

Levi felt the ghost of a smile grace his lips as Eren chuckled beside him. It was quiet for a moment, the slow whirl of the ceiling fan cutting through the thick silence, and even if Levi had been mad at Eren earlier he was already starting to forgive him, if only because Eren could lay here and give him the time and comfort he so desperately needed.

A palm settled low over his stomach and Levi let it.

“You talk in your sleep, you know,” Eren said softly, fingers toying with the hem of Levi’s shirt. “You were upset. Said my name a lot.”

Levi grimaced. He’d always known he’d talked in his sleep, and it was embarrassing as hell. If all he’d said was Eren’s name, though, it wasn’t as bad as he’d thought. With the nature of his dream, he’d thought for sure he would have mentioned---

“You said another name too.”

Levi froze. Eren’s hand slowly came up and settled against his throat, gripping his chin to force him to meet Eren’s earnest gaze.

“You wanna tell me what you were dreaming about, Levi?”

Levi roughly shook his head, avoiding those bright eyes. He most definitely did _not_ want to talk about his dream. There was a reason these memories only popped up in his subconscious and not his waking thoughts.

“Are you sure?” Eren pushed, finger dragging lightly down the column of Levi’s throat. “You seemed pretty upset.”

Levi’s breath started coming in faster and he again shook his head. He needed Eren to drop it or he was going to break; there was too much still floating around his brain, too many thoughts of family and blood and death crowding his thoughts. He didn’t think he could take any more at this point.

“Levi.” And this time Eren forced Levi to meet his gaze.

“Who’s Isabel, Levi?”

And then every wall that Levi had painstakingly built in the last four months came tumbling down and he was left gasping for breath at the pain that pulsed like poison into his veins. Names and feelings and thoughts that he’d been blocking for the sake of his own sanity came pouring back in, flooding every crevice of his mind and stinging everywhere they touched. Eren’s eyes widened as the first sob ripped from Levi’s throat, but then he was pulling Levi into his arms and Levi was clutching back so hard that his fingernails left red trails on Eren’s collarbone, holding on desperately because if anyone could quell the ache that burned his whole body it was Eren. Eren hadn’t left him, he could fix this, he could pull Levi back from the wave of pain that was crashing over him again and again.

Levi must have gasped his name, because Eren tucked Levi more firmly into the space between his body and the bed and began whispering sweet words against his skin. Levi couldn’t quite catch anything he said, but the words pooled like honey in his ear and soothed the frantic beat of his heart. They weren’t enough to drown out the name bouncing around his skull over and over, but they did give him something to grab onto. It was after what must have been the thirtieth swipe of Eren’s fingers over the nape of Levi’s neck before his tears finally dried and he came back to himself.  

Eren held him the entire time he was pulling himself back together, hands soft in his hair and on his skin. When Levi finally leaned back, he couldn’t find the courage to meet Eren’s gaze and let the fringe of his bangs shadow his eyes.

“Thanks,” he breathed. The word didn’t stick as hard in his throat as it usually would have so he said it again. “Thank you. I… sorry. For that.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Eren said lowly, and Levi wanted to cry again, if only for the gentle way Eren’s words wrapped around him.

“This is so stupid,” he grit out, clutching more fiercely at Eren’s shirt. “So fucking stupid.”

“It’s not stupid, Levi,” Eren said, running a soothing hand down his spine. “You do whatever you need to do, but I think talking about everything will really help.”

Levi really, really didn’t want to talk about it, but Eren’s hands and words were so gentle that he almost thought he owed him the honesty. He buried his face back into Eren’s shirt, hiding from the words that shattered like glass in his throat.

“Isabel”--- he inhaled sharply, the name cutting his tongue, but grinded his teeth and continued on---“Isabel was--- _is_ my sister. She, she… _fuck_ , she went missing too. The same night Kenny did.”

“You’ve been looking for her too.”

Levi nodded even if Eren hadn’t phrased it as a question. His voice cracked when he said, “I don’t give a fuck about Kenny, but I know they’re together. I have to find her, Eren. I’m all she has.”

He thought of the scared little girl she’d been after their parents’ funeral and they’d had to move in with Kenny. She’d slept in his room night after night, flinching every time one of their uncle’s dead beat friends laughed too loudly from the kitchen where they played cards. She wasn’t that little kid anymore, was loud and fiercely independent, but he couldn’t even imagine how scared she must be, alone with Kenny. _He_ was more scared than he had been in his entire life; she was all he had too.

Eren cupped the back of his head tightly with a large palm when Levi choked on another sob. He pet gingerly at his back and Levi emptied himself on his chest.

“We’ll find her, sweetheart,” Eren sighed. “I promise we will. A brother and sister should never be ripped apart.”

Something in his tone caught Levi’s attention, and he gingerly peeled his face from his shirt to meet his eyes. Eren looked conflicted for a moment as Levi blinked at him, but finally sighed.

“I had a sister too,” he said, dropping his gaze. “We were really close.”

Levi’s heart sped up in his chest. Eren never spoke about himself or his past, and he was almost desperate to know more about him.

“What happened to her?” he hedged, and Eren smiled morosely.

“What happens to all kids in the foster care system,” he shrugged. “She disappeared. She went to one home and I went to another and I never saw her again.”

Levi felt guilt wash up in his gut. At least he and…Isabel… had always had a place to stay, as unstable a home as it was. He couldn’t imagine being flipped from house to house, family to family, like that. But more than that, he felt closer to Eren than anyone else he’d ever met. Eren had suffered the same pain he had, was _still_ suffering and somehow found the strength to get up every day and help Levi. He was so strong and Levi suddenly hated himself a little more for blatantly using him.

“I’m…sorry, Eren,” he said, sympathy an unfamiliar taste on his tongue. “That’s so horrible, I can’t even imagine…” He felt another coursing of warmth down his cheeks and he cursed.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Eren soothed, catching a tear and gently wiping it away. “Everything I’ve gone through and lost has all happened so I could get here to this moment with you. I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.”

Eren’s eyes shone earnestly again, but this time Levi couldn’t help but believe them.

“What happened to me and my sister doesn’t have to happen to you and Isabel. We’re going to find her, I promise. We’ll worry about everything else when we get there.”

Levi’s face crumpled as he buried himself back into Eren’s embrace. His whole body shook with something: grief, sympathy, fear, heartache, he wasn’t sure, but he did know that there was something else, too, something bubbling up and quickly becoming unavoidable with the way it ached in his chest. He didn’t want to even think about that, so he sunk his face further into the crook of Eren’s neck. He thought he could live forever in the safety of his embrace.

“Levi?” Eren’s voice was a deep rumble against his ear.

“Yes?”

“You know we have to go after Annie, right?”

Fear pooled, sour and acrid, in Levi’s throat, but he swallowed it down. He couldn’t let Isabel down, and now Eren and his sister as well. He had to find her for all of them. Besides, with Eren’s arms warm around his waist and his heart beating hotly under his ear, he didn’t think anything bad could ever reach them. He trusted Eren to take care of everything.

“I know.”

Eren pressed a grin into his forehead and some of the grief in Levi’s bones lightened at having pleased him.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, Levi,” he whispered there. “You’re mine now, remember?”

Levi shivered, the words lodging deep into his skin and laying claim to his body. Somewhere deep down he _knew_ this was a bad idea, letting Eren’s words settle over him so completely, but he didn’t fucking care anymore. All he could picture was finding Isabel, Eren’s bright smile matching her own as they met. He wanted them both, forever, and he didn’t care if it was selfish because all he’d done was give and give his entire life. He just wanted a fucking family for once and he didn’t care what he had to do to get it.

Eren shifted, and Levi curled further into his warmth. He was so tired, and when Eren whispered, “Sleep, Levi,” into his ear, his eyes started to obediently drift shut under the weight of his exhaustion. He felt safer than he had in a long while, body relaxing and sleep finding him more easily than it had ever done before. The last thing he did before drifting off was to wonder when he had started to include Eren in his idea of family, but the thought only lingered for a moment before it too was lost to the darkness.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so I may have missed a couple of Sunday updates… Okay, so I missed nine months’ worth. I’m so sorry! There are so many excuses I could give (the most prominent being that I took the first creative writing class of my life and my professor completely wrecked my confidence in myself), but the important thing is that I haven’t abandoned this fic and I fully intend to keep updating in the coming months! It probably won’t be every Sunday like it was before, but I swear it won’t be nine months again (baby Jeebus be willing).
> 
> I also kind of fucked up because this story is super complicated and kind of hard to pick back up on. I recommend re-reading before jumping back in here, or at least looking back over the first part of Chapter 6 because the beginning of this chapter is the continuation of a dream Levi was having from that one. I wrote a brief summary of everything to kind of help?
> 
> Levi and Eren met one night when Levi was burying the body of some dude named Maddie Porter. They become fast friends and even quicker boyfriends(!) as they work to find Levi’s missing Uncle Kenny. Kenny is a grade A asshole, but Levi thinks his little sister Isabel (a super touchy subject with him) might be with him so he’s trying to find them both. During their adventures they’ve encountered: Pixis, a social recluse who pointed them towards Annie Leonhart and had a beer belly (killed gruesomely by Eren); Connie, a wannabe gangbanger who reported seeing Kenny somewhere in the city (killed gruesomely by Eren); the Sheriff, the man who took Levi in after his family went missing and who is investigating the mysterious deaths around town (well-liked, so not killed gruesomely by Eren); and Farlan, Levi’s old best friend who mysteriously fell out of contact with Levi after his uncle and sister went missing (not gruesomely killed by Eren, but Eren hates his guts so…). Sprinkled throughout are little tidbits like Levi losing his mind, Eren manipulating him with his own mental instabilities, and Mortician!Hanji mooning over Mike’s dead body. 
> 
> There are a lot of little details that are left out here, but I think it covers the gist? If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up in those comments! Again, I’m a jerk and sorry for the past couple of months—thanks for being so awesome and sticking around this long! Enjoy:)

_This time Levi laughed with him, the sound of their combined amusement rising and getting tangled in the boughs of the large tree swaying above them. Levi stretched out in the grass, his grin stretching his mouth so much his cheeks hurt._

_“Hey guys, what’s so funny?”_

_A sweet soprano voice from behind had both boys sitting up. Levi turned, fond smile coming to his lips as he saw---_

“Isabel,” Farlan greeted her as she twisted to fall to the grass between them. Her messy hair was pulled back from her face in a lazy bun, errant strands escaping and sticking to her face in the summer heat. Levi noticed that her signature pout had been shed for a shit eating grin, and he figured she’d finally gotten over whatever tiff she’d had with Kenny earlier. 

Farlan pulled his legs beneath him, thrusting his abused copy of _Wuthering Heights_ under her nose. “Help me out here, Iz-- please tell me chicks aren’t actually into this.”

Isabel snatched the book from his hands, examining its threadbare pages. “Jesus Farlan, did you hate it enough you decided to murder it?”

“Excuse me, it was like that when I got it. I would never treat a vessel of knowledge in such a manner.”

“Sure,” she snorted, thumbing through its pages. “Levi’s didn’t look like this, but I’m sure Ms. Graves just had it out for you, right?”

Farlan pointed at her. “Exactly. Anyway, you never answered my question. Chicks, tragic romance: do they eat this shit up or what?”

“As if you have any interest in chicks and what they eat up,” she teased, ignoring his aggrieved noises of protest, before regarding the cover thoughtfully. “I don’t know, guys, I think you’re being judgey. I kinda get how they’re feeling about each other.”

Levi caught Farlan’s gaze over Isabel’s head. Farlan slowly lifted a hand to his neck, miming pulling a noose around his neck and they both smirked.

Isabel continued, oblivious to their teasing or more likely ignoring it. “I think it’s beautiful, to be so in love with someone that you’d rather die than be without them. I want to find someone like that.”

Levi couldn’t contain his snort at that. “Iz, I forgive you because you didn’t read it, but everyone died in that thing. It’s not romantic, it’s fucking tragic.”

“Maybe,” she shrugged, “but that’s what makes it beautiful. If they were just happy and in love it’d be boring. You gotta have the passion and obsession to make the pain worth it.”

Farlan collapsed to the grass, feigning a yawn. “Yeah well, like I said, I don’t get it. Guess I’ll resign myself to never understanding the finer points of romance.”

Isabel giggled. “Just the finer points?”

“You insult me. I’m a real romance connoisseur, you know.”

“Like you even know what connoisseur means, idiot.”

Rolling his eyes (albeit fondly), Levi left them to their petty squabble. Sometimes they almost resembled an old married couple with the way they fought near constantly. He’d probably be more annoyed by it, but it was comforting in its familiarity. If nothing else, he’d always be able to rely on Isabel and Farlan and their incessant bickering.

Suddenly, movement near the house caught his eye. Someone was coming up to the side entrance of the house, the one covered by a wilting azalea bush. Usually that door served all of Kenny’s less than savory customers, but this man stood a little prouder than most of the sleaze-balls who frequented the path.

The man turned his head a bit, and a spark of recognition flared in Levi’s gut. Before he could think more on it, Kenny appeared at the screen door in all of his wife-beater and mullet glory. The screech of the door’s hinges was loud as Kenny let the man into the house with a gestured greeting. Before he turned to follow, his gaze caught with Levi’s. The yellowed grin he tossed over made something tighten and roll in Levi’s gut, and it took a fair amount for Levi not to dry heave at the feeling. Instead, he fixed a glare on him until Kenny shook his head with a grin and left.

“God, I hate that guy.”

Levi startled, having forgotten where he was for a moment. He turned, noticing that his glare had been mirrored by his sister beside him. She sniffed, turning her nose up.

“Why’s he been at the house so much lately anyway? I thought the Reiss’ were done with him?”

“Who?” Levi asked, “Kenny?”

Isabel roller her eyes. “No dumbass, Maddie Porter. Shady mofo who just walked in the house? I’ve seen him, like, six times in the past week _at least._ He gives me the creeps.”

Levi noticed her toying with her necklace, flipping the bird pendant absently between her fingers. It was one of her nervous ticks. He gently set a hand on her shoulder and she relaxed a little under the touch.

Beside them both, Farlan fidgeted. “I don’t know how you guys put up with Kenny’s shit. He’s going to get you both killed someday.”

“He won’t,” Levi said firmly. “We’re worth two fat social security checks from the government a month; he’ll keep us around as long as he can.”

Izzie snorted, fanning herself with one hand. “Plus he’s too stupid to actually get into any real trouble. He’ll be dead before he figures out how to make any real money off the Reiss’.”

“And we’ll be long gone before that,” Levi agreed.

The three of them lapsed into silence after that. There would be time to worry about Kenny and his notoriety for making poor financial decisions later. For now, they enjoyed the slant of the summer sun, comfortable in their shared knowledge that whatever may come they’d face it together.

***

For the first time in a long while, Levi woke from a dream about Isabel without injury.   

Turning his head into the grain of his pillow, he blinked wearily against the sunlight falling lazily into his room. It was unusual for his head to be this clear and he didn’t feel the overwhelming need to vomit. Deciding to test his limits, he gently prodded at the edges of his dream, but surprisingly no pain came. Maybe all of that crying the night before had actually been worth something. Gone was the abject despair and hopelessness for a situation he couldn’t control; in its place was an overwhelming sense of purpose and the conviction that he was on the right path. He hadn’t felt this sure in months and he knew absolutely whom he owed it to.

Rolling to his side, he found the other half of his bed empty. He wasn’t surprised, but felt a flutter of disappointment anyway. At least now he could analyze his feelings without the dizzying distraction of Eren’s presence.

Because that’s what Eren did, he clouded Levi’s every thought and left him feeling off-center any time they were together. What was worse, though, was that his absence affected him even more. Even now Levi just wanted to find him and bask in the comfort of his embrace. He missed the quirk of his smile, his honey-sweet words, the strength in his arms. They’d only been apart as long as Levi had been sleeping, but he could already feel Eren’s gravitational pull tugging him back in.

Only in the privacy of his own mind did Levi consider what that really meant. A laugh bubbled up in his chest and burst breathlessly from his lips, but it broke and dropped flatly in the silence of the room.

He was in love with a fucking serial killer.

***

 Levi found Eren in the kitchen, frowning at the coffee machine.

“Does the Sheriff actually use this thing?” Eren asked, hesitantly poking at its stained basin. “I’m pretty sure it’s a fire-hazard.”

Levi shrugged, sidling up beside him and immediately feeling like he could breathe again. He poured himself a cup of the aforementioned coffee, smirking into his sip when Eren grimaced at him.

“I remember why I went after Maddie for information,” Levi said, turning to lean a hip against the counter.

Eren mirrored his position. “The guy we buried the night we met?”

“Yeah,” Levi nodded, taking another sip. “He was shady as fuck, but he worked primarily for the Reiss family, same one as Annie. Then he got kicked out or some shit, I don’t remember.” Levi shrugged. Maddie and his lackluster career as a dealer had never really piqued his interest. “The thing is, Kenny was in the middle of some kind of deal with the Reiss’ then---something more than just his standard haul--- but Maddie kept visiting the house right before everything went down. I thought Kenny was just late on a payment or something, but now I think they were making their own deal. What Kenny could possibly have to offer though…” He trailed off, shaking his head.

“So you think Kenny double crossed the Reiss family with their own ex-member? How Machiavellian!” Eren exclaimed, slamming a fist into his open palm before giggling. “This is so exciting, I feel like I’m on a TV show!”

Levi ran a hand through his hair, sighing. “This is serious, Eren. If it’s true, it would make sense that the Reiss’ would have ordered the hit on Kenny if they found out about him and Maddie.”

“That’s what happened the night Kenny disappeared? Someone tried to kill him?”

“Us,” Levi corrected quietly. “Someone tried to kill us.”

The memories from that night still bled fresh; he could almost taste the acrid curl of smoke in the air, feel the lick of flames on his skin as he watched his home burn to the ground. Everything about that night still felt vaguely hazy, but he couldn’t forget the liquid drip of terror and rage that had swam in his veins.

He shook his head. “That’s not important; what matters is that we know now that the Reiss’ were probably involved in Kenny’s disappearance and since he’s not dead, they’re probably still looking for him.”

“So any info they have will be mighty interesting to us,” Eren nodded before a grin spread across his face. “And you said Annie was a part of their family? So we can go after her now?”

Levi sighed at his hopeful expression. “Yes,” he said bluntly.

Eren let out a little whoop in celebration, but Levi grabbed his shoulder. “But you should know that I…” Levi sighed again, dropping his head. “I used to kind of run with them. For a while, at least. They’ll all know me pretty well.”

“You ran with…Annie?” Eren asked, head tilted confusedly for a moment before a sly grin broke across his face. “Would never have pegged you for a thug, Levi. You got any other secret occupations you’d like to tell me about?”

“I wasn’t a thug,” Levi countered.  “For a little while I just… fell in with the wrong crowd. I wanted to make some quick money, so I…” He shrugged. “Didn’t stick around long though.”

“Why not?”

Eren looked genuinely interested so Levi found the courage to breathe in and say, “Isabel asked me not to.” All too ready for the words to hurt, he was surprised when they left his mouth easily. Looks like that feeling of purpose from the morning was there to stay.

Beside him, Eren tilted his head. “Is that why you didn’t want to go after Annie? You got a thing for her or something?”

Levi quickly shook his head, eyes meeting Eren’s. “No. I just know how she fights. She’s ruthless and I… I was just worried.”

 Eren’s eyes immediately softened and Levi knew he’d said the right thing. A hand settled lightly against Levi’s cheek, and he couldn’t help but lean into it.

“You shouldn’t worry, Levi,” Eren soothed. His thumb traced a gentle path down his face. “She’s nothing against me.”

“No, she’s not,” Levi agreed and the answering grin he received was enough to brighten the edges of his vision. 

“Now,” Eren stated, pulling back and straightening up (and when had he moved to lean over Levi so fully?). “We need a plan of attack. You’ve got the insider information; when do we need to go to have a little chat with Annie?”

Eren’s grin shown razor sharp in the dull morning sunlight and it comforted Levi rather than repulsed him; Annie may have been a ruthless fighter, but Levi hadn’t been lying when he said she had nothing on Eren. For the first time, he thought this could actually work.

***

Levi counted himself as a meticulous planner. He never acted without first weighing the costs and benefits, always calculated every angle of a situation before jumping in. It was probably half of his problem now; he wanted to exhaust all possibilities before making hasty decisions and thus had agonized over the Annie situation for far too long. He wasn’t indecisive, just… careful. Cautious. And yet for all of his vigilant planning, he’d forgotten one important aspect of the night.

Worlds-of-Fun was in the middle of its Halloween celebration.

The entire walk to the kid’s section of the amusement park had been filled with blinding strobe lights, copious amounts of fake fog, and enough campy Halloween decorations to put Target to shame. In the first five minutes of his arrival he’d been accosted by a vampire, a clown, and a flying monkey of all things, and if one more actor tried to jump out of the fog and scare him he’d probably end up punching them in their painted face. The worst were the actors from the pig farm attraction; apparently it was still okay in Missouri to perpetuate the dumb hillbilly stereotype as long as you emphasized the part where they were murderous, fashionably-challenged cannibals. They were supposed to be scary, what with their fake chainsaws and gaping mouths, but Levi mostly wanted to console them for being made to wear plaid under overall cutoffs.

So yeah, maybe he could have planned his confrontation with Annie a little better. He’d been desperate, though, and too high off of Eren’s confidence to think things through. It wasn’t ideal, but he wasn’t going to back down now, not when he was so close to real answers.  

He wished Eren was with him. They’d split for obvious reasons; Annie would feel more inclined to talk to him about Kenny if she felt in control of the situation and Eren was a loose cannon at the best of times. Even more, she knew Levi personally, so their best chances lay with a lone visit between old friends instead of a confrontation with some guy she didn’t know. Levi was the one who had suggested Eren follow along behind, and yet he still found himself wishing for his comforting heat at his side.

(The other reason he hadn’t wanted Eren along had less to do with increasing the chance of Annie talking to him and more to do with his and Annie’s history; they hadn’t been close, particularly, but Eren was known to get jealous easily and he didn’t want to take a chance with his temper, whether it was warranted or not).

By the time he reached the kid’s section of the park, the moon hung high in the sky. He still felt jostled by people on either sides of his body, but he thought the crowds had thinned a bit since opening. He finally spotted the first kid’s ride, the Bamboozler. Between the whirring of its carts and the flashing neon of its arms, he could just make out Annie’s characteristic frown.

Shoving his hands in his pockets against the chill, he ambled up to her cart.

“Some gig you got here,” he said, hoping he sounded casual enough.

Her head jerked up in surprise at his voice. He saw the slight widening of her eyes before she quickly schooled her expression back into a carefully neutral expression.  

“Levi,” she said, flicking her hair back under her visor, “long time no see.” She paused to give him a once-over. “Though it seems time has treated you a little more poorly than it has me.”

Levi fought back a grin. Annie always had been brutally honest.

“I’ll give you that one,” he said, shifting his weight between his feet. Now that he was here, he was a little unsure of how to proceed. “How’s everyone?”

Annie’s eyes narrowed. “Is that really what you want to ask?”

Levi didn’t hold back the smirk this time. “No.”

She eyed him for a couple moments more, eyes sharp under the carnival lights strung through the trees. Finally, she turned and gave a brief whistle. A kid in a similar costume ran up to the stand and she patted her hands on top.

“Watch this for me,” she commanded and he eagerly nodded his head, hurrying to take her position behind the stand.

“You comin’?”

Annie was waiting on him, eyebrows cocked high on her forehead. She flicked an impatient hand towards a building half hidden by a line of trees before turning to strut towards it. Levi followed behind at a more leisurely pace. He was a little surprised at how easily she had agreed to talk to him, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Behind the building, a ring of off duty monsters chatted and smoked, but Annie quickly waved them off with a glare and a flick of her wrist. She sat primly on a bench in the shadows of a large oak tree. Levi gingerly took a seat beside her as she drew a pack of cigarettes from her pocket and lit up.

“I assume you’re here for Kenny,” she began and Levi nodded. No sense beating around the bush.

Annie leaned back, blowing a stream of smoke from between her lips. “I thought you’d come eventually. Piece of shit didn’t even tell you where he was going, did he?”

“No,” Levi said, blinking steadily against the haze of smoke stinging his eyes. “He didn’t.”

She snorted. “I figured. Bet you’re happy though.”

Levi furrowed his brows and she tilted her head. “You always wanted away from him, right? Seems perfect to me. You get to play nice Sheriff’s boy for a year, graduate with honors or some shit, and use your little sob story to get into any school you want. Almost better than if you planned it.”

“This isn’t the way I’d ever have wanted it.”

She glanced over at the hard way his words drew together. Nodding, she set her elbows on her knees and leaned over, bringing the cigarette to her mouth again. “Your sister.”

Levi doesn’t have to answer her, the harsh slant of his shoulders giving him away.

“You really think she’s with him?” she asked and Levi sighed.

“I have to believe she is.”

“I get that,” she said, shrugging. “But I really think you don’t want to find Kenny.”

“Why do you want to find Kenny?” Levi shot back. He was already sick of this conversation, the tired way Annie was regarding him as if he was just some annoying kid she had to placate. “What do the Reiss’ want with him? Is it because of his deal with Maddie?”

Annie’s eyes widened and Levi felt a smug satisfaction at having actually surprised her twice in one night. It also meant he had been right about Kenny crossing the Reiss’ to fuck around with Maddie, which was less reassuring to say the least.

“Seems someone has been digging where he shouldn’t,” she merely said, turning to watch the night sky again. “Be careful there, Levi. There are some things you don’t want to get involved in.”

Levi scowled. “I’m already involved---”

“This is bigger than the both of us,” Annie interrupted, expression going hard as she turned to face him fully for the first time that night. “I don’t care what you think you know, but none of it is anywhere near worth trying to find Kenny.”

“But why?” Levi pushed. “The hit missed, Kenny’s gone; why waste the resources trying to find him?”

Annie sighed. “It wasn’t a normal deal, Levi. That’s all I can tell you. If Kenny had cheated the Reiss’ out of a standard haul, a couple thousand dollars, _anything_ other than what he did, someone would have been sent to rough him up a bit and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. It wasn’t though. Kenny was a fucking idiot and we’re all suffering for it now.”

She sighed again, pushing a hand through her hair agitatedly. Levi had never seen her so off balance before and it had his skin prickling in warning. This deal sounded even bigger than he’d expected and he was even more pissed off that Kenny had decided to be his skanky ass self on something he knew would probably get him killed. As angry as he was, though, he still needed him and had to keep going.

“I get that,” he said in appeasement. “Thank you. But I still need to find him. Is there anything you can give me about where he might have gone? Anything at all?”

Annie regarded him for a moment, hair falling to shield her eyes.

“We used to be friends, Levi,” she said, not unkindly. “Believe me when I say you should just stay out of it.”

Levi startled as he felt the brief touch at his knee. He frowned down at the hand that had settled there, but had only just opened his mouth to say something when Annie suddenly pitched face forward, legs flying up behind her.

She hit the ground with a small “oomph,” already rolling to her feet with a snarl to face the new threat. Levi turned to follow her gaze, but he already knew what he would see. Unsurprisingly, Eren stood behind the bench, hands on his hips and twisted scowl on his lips.

“Sorry honey,” he said, glaring down at Annie, “but those knees are private property and I don’t intend to share.”

Levi sighed, pushing tiredly to his feet. “What are you doing, Eren?”

Eren turned towards him with a pout. “Preserving your virtue.”

“You know him?” Annie asked incredulously and Levi nodded, bringing a hand to his head.

“Unfortunately,” he sighed before throwing Eren a look. “I had this handled.”

“She was getting handsy, Levi. I’m a simple man; I couldn’t control myself.”

Annie growled from the ground. “What the fuck, so you don’t trust me? You had to bring this fucker as backup or something?”

“Sure did,” Eren agreed, head held high as he side-eyed her. “And good thing, too, since Ms. Desperate couldn’t keep her big paws to herself. What are you anyway, thirty? He’s jailbait, sweetie. Back off.”

Annie ignored his jibes, eyes focused accusingly on Levi. “I trusted you. We have history.”

Levi returned her glare blankly. “If there was any trust, you would tell me what you know about Kenny.”

Her eyes narrowed for a moment before her stance suddenly relaxed.

“You always were too good for us,” she said, smirking at him. “Thought you were better ‘cuz you had a sister at home to take care of, dreams to follow. It’s a shame; you could have been so good if you hadn’t been so weirdly in love with that bitch.”

Levi felt his jaw clench and he had to work hard to grit out, “Do _not_ talk about her.”

She snorted. “Oh, am I making you mad?” She rolled her eyes and it made the blood boil all the harder in his veins. “It’s just the truth, Levi. You were totally obsessed with her.”

“I’m warning you.” The words tore from somewhere deep inside his chest, spilling like glass from his lips. “Stop now.”

Annie tossed her head, flicking her hair out of her eyes. “As if you’d ever hurt anyone, Levi. You always were a pussy.”

Eren settled his hands on his hips, throwing her a reproachful look. “Hey, I’ll have you know my baby killed a man in cold blood the day we met. We buried him together, too; most romantic night of my life.”

“As if,” Annie dismissed easily. “Levi couldn’t even hold a gun.”

“Knife actually,” Eren corrected, grinning. “Got him right in the back of the neck—severed his spinal cord with one hit.” He paused, a noticeable shiver going up his spine before he threw Levi a wink. “Gets me hot just thinking about it.”

 Annie pushed to her knees. “I don’t believe it.”

“No it’s true!” Eren said earnestly, wrapping an arm around Levi. “What was his name, Lev? Maddie or some shit?”

Annie stiffened. “Maddie? You killed… Maddie?”

“Yup!” Eren sang, pulling Levi in close to his side and squeezing. “Stabbed him in the neck, did I mention that?”

Annie’s body froze for a moment, features twitching sporadically as if they didn’t know how to settle, before she threw her head back and began laughing. Levi felt his blood run cold. Her voice was pitched high, unnaturally so, and each peal of laughter seemed to reverberate around them. It clung to the air, as suffocating as it was disturbing.  She was completely terrifying, insane.

“Amazing,” Eren murmured beside him, voice pitched low in awe.

As easily as it began, the laughter stopped. Annie’s mouth snapped shut but her grin remained in place. “ _You_ killed Maddie? _You_ did? Aw, that’s great. That’s really, that’s really something, isn’t it?” She chuckled again. “You can’t be serious. You think you killed Maddie?”

Levi kept his features carefully in check, but his skin was prickling. Something was definitely wrong here. “I did. In September.”

“Oh really?” she asked, leaning back on her heels. “September 4th, right?”

The breath stuttered in Levi’s chest. “That’s…”

“It was a Friday, right?” she continued, a manic glee coming into her eyes. “Real hot and humid for September. Maddie was wearing some dingy brown suit with a tear in the lapel?”

Levi remembered that suit, had noticed the tear when he’d wrapped his body in the trash bag. “How do you---”

“You’ve got some real balls, Levi,” Annie said. She shook her head before leaning forward onto her knees and staring up into his eyes. “I killed Maddie Porter.”

Levi shook his head. “No. No, I did it. I remember doing it. I…”

“Levi had to have done it,” Eren said, lips pursing. “We buried the guy together.”

A laugh burst past Annie’s lips. “That’s what’s so funny! Someone broke into his house before I could get rid of him. You buried the guy _I_ killed!”

She continued to giggle to herself and Eren brought a hand up to take Levi’s arm. “Levi, what’s going on?”

Levi shook his head again, hand coming up to rub at his forehead. He had killed Maddie, he knew it. It wasn’t possible to make up stabbing someone in the back of the fucking neck—you couldn’t just force memories like that. He threw his mind back, searching for the night, but all he could remember was dragging the body to the woods, meeting Eren. He reached farther back and felt the dull edges of an impending headache, nothing more. But that didn’t mean he’d made it up. It was just hazy; it had been a hard thing to do, his first kill and all.  

“I don’t,” he began, breathing through the stutter in his voice. “I don’t know. I know I killed him---”

“Oh Levi,” Annie said, finally pulling herself out of her mirth. “I always thought you were so put together, but this whole time you’ve just been _hiding_ how fucked up you are.”

“Shut up,” he snapped, but it came out weakly. He couldn’t deal with her right now; he needed to get home and figure this out. There was an answer to this somewhere. He just had to find it.

“I can’t blame you I guess,” Annie continued, rising to her feet. “Crazy does run in your family.”

Turning, Levi pushed himself into Eren’s arms. “Please,” he whispered into the fabric of his jacket.

Annie laughed again. “God, I almost feel bad for you. You just never catch a break, do you Levi?”

Eren’s arms came up to wrap soothingly around his waist. “You need to leave?”

“Yes,” Levi breathed out, relieved. He lifted his face to meet golden eyes. Eren smiled reassuringly down at him and he knew then that he understood exactly what Levi needed and wasn’t judging him for it. 

“Don’t think you’re getting out of this because of your little breakdown,” Annie said. Levi couldn’t see her, but her voice had dropped in pitch. “I can’t have you going around and botching my other hits like you did with Maddie.”

Funnily enough, Levi had almost forgotten about her, caught as he was in the heat of Eren’s gaze. He knew she meant it when she threatened them, but his thoughts were a hopeless tangle and his head was already pounding and he couldn’t find any strength to worry. He needed to get home, work on parsing through the storm in his mind, and he knew she wouldn’t let them leave that easily. There was only one thing he could think to do.

“Eren,” Levi said lowly. “Take her out.”

Eren stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment before understanding lit up his eyes. His arms tightened around his waist and Levi had to gasp for his next breath.

“It’s unpleasant that it has to be like this, Levi.  I really thought we were friends.”

Annie was still talking somewhere near them, but Levi wasn’t really paying attention. He was more caught up in the way Eren’s cheeks had taken on a faint flush.

Eren swallowed. “You mean that?”

Levi nodded and a slow grin stole across Eren’s face. Heart stuttering, Levi smiled back, happy to have made Eren happy.

“This is what you get for trying to meddle in something that’s none of your busine---”

A loud crack had Levi flinching, mouth dropping open as he saw Annie crumple to the ground in the corner of his vision. Whirling in Eren’s hold, he gasped. There was a tiny hole in Annie’s cheek, right under her left eye. As he watched, a small trickle of blood trailed down from the edge, almost reminiscent of a tear.

“Damn, I was aiming for the forehead.”

It was only then that Levi noticed the revolver in Eren’s hand. He pulled back slightly, gaze tittering between the gun and Eren’s face.

“You, you…” His mouth gaped, throat closing around his voice. “Where did you get that?” he finally managed dumbly, words thick on his tongue.

 Eren shrugged, unaffected. “I raided the security office by the entrance.”

“But you…” Levi forced out, still nonplussed. “You’ve been talking about fighting her for weeks. I don’t understand.”

Eren smiled down at him, eyes hooding sweetly. “You needed me, Levi. I told you I’d take care of you.”

Levi froze, because that… No one had ever put him first like that. Despite the pounding behind his eyes, the breakdown lingering on the edges of his mind, the body not five feet from them, Levi found himself smiling back. 

A scream from the festival had him jumping, though, and Eren pulled back slightly to sigh.

“It’s probably time for us to beat it,” he said, wiping the gun down and tossing it beside Annie. “Wouldn’t want the security chumps to be missing their gun for too long, eh?”

With the adrenaline from the confrontation leaking from his body, Levi was finding his body hard to move. Eren began to lead him from behind the building, but Levi stumbled into his side.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. Eren merely chuckled, reaching up to pinch at Levi’s cheek.

“No worries, sweetheart. You’ve had a long night. Here.” He spun around and crouched, hands coming up beside his waist. “Jump on and I’ll give you a lift.”

Levi didn’t question him, just used the last of his waning energy to jump on his back and wrap his arms around his neck. Once he was in position, Eren cautiously slid out from behind the building and began walking to the entrance.

The crowds hadn’t thinned any, but the people didn’t bother Levi nearly as much now that he was with Eren. His head fit perfectly against the nape of Eren’s neck and he breathed in his clean scent deeply. With his eyes closed, he could almost pretend that he was a normal teenager on a normal date with his normal boyfriend. It felt nice until another spike of pain in his head reminded him of his headache and the bomb Annie had just dropped. He wasn’t some stupid teenager on a stupid date with his stupid boyfriend because he was fucking crazy and thought he killed people. And that was the worst of it, wasn’t it?

“It makes sense,” he mumbled and Eren craned his neck back to try to see him.

“Did you say something, Lev?”

Levi sighed softly. “No.”

Eren hummed and patted him softly with the hand on his butt. “Sit tight, we’re almost outside.”

He was right; it didn’t take long until they were cutting through the parking lot and finally reaching Levi’s car. He wasted no time in unlocking the passenger side and gently maneuvering him to sit sideways on the seat. Crouching between Levi’s knees, he settled his palms over his thighs and gazed up at him.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Like shit.”

Eren’s lips pursed. “You have a headache.”

Nodding, Levi asked, “How did you know?”

“You keep rubbing at your eyes,” Eren said, reaching up to take the hand Levi had been pressing at his eyelid. He drew his thumb over Levi’s knuckles and smiled. “You’ll get wrinkles like that, you know.”

Levi snorted, glancing down at the ground between his knees. He paused for a moment before glancing back up. “I’m sorry I ruined things for you tonight.”

“What do you mean?” Eren asked. “I had a good time.”

“With Annie.” He sighed, examining the way Eren’s fingers played with his own. “I know you’ve wanted to fight her for a while now. So.”

“Levi,” he laughed, eyes crinkling sweetly, “you have to know why I did it? Sure, I’ve never passed up a chance to fight someone as good as her, but… I didn’t even realize I was going to do it until I saw how you looked. Your eyes…” He cupped his face between his palms, brushing under Levi’s eyes as if wiping away the ghosts of tears Levi had yet to shed. “You looked so scared. Lost. And I knew I had to get you away.”

Eren gave a half shrug, almost like he couldn’t pin down how he was feeling himself and was just as helpless to it as Levi was. “I knew you were special, Levi. Ever since the beginning, I knew. And now look at us.”

Levi blinked at him in shock before falling forward to push their foreheads together. His breath hitched unevenly and he hoped he wasn’t crying.

Eren’s hands came up to settle warmly on the back of his neck. “Levi?”

“It makes sense,” Levi whispered back, afraid to say the words too loudly. “What Annie said. I can’t actually remember any of that night until just a little before I met you. And I… I’m not sure I would have been able to do it. Kill him.” He laughed weakly. “I’m fucking crazy or, or something--- how do you just forget that you didn’t kill someone? Fuck, I buried him for no goddamn reason.”

Eren sighed, pulling his fingers through Levi’s hair. “Levi.”

“And it’s worse,” Levi choked out, probably crying now, “because now I can’t tell what’s real and what’s not. How much of this have I made up? How much have I imagined because I’m just so fucking crazy? Did Pixis or Connie actually happen? Did _tonight_ even happen?”

“Levi---”

“And _you_. How could you be real? Goddammit, and I can’t even breathe because I _need_ you to be real, Eren---”

“ _Levi_.”

Levi sucked in a harsh breath. He vaguely realized that he hadn’t taken one in a while.

“Breathe with me, Levi,” Eren said and Levi tried to match him for every breath. They were still leaned together, Levi’s hands wrapped tightly around Eren’s wrists where they cupped his face.

“Levi,” Eren began, “Annie said some things tonight, but we don’t have proof that they’re true. Even if they are, it isn’t some excuse to start doubting everything you’ve done. You’ve been so strong though all of this, so brave and so strong. Think back: do you really think you made all this up?”

Levi let himself remember. Everything aside from the night with Maddie was crystal clear. Nothing else created the fog in his memory or threatened a headache: he could clearly hear the gurgle as Pixis choked on his own blood, could see Farlan’s hurt scowl when he asked him to leave his house. All of it was as vivid as the day he experienced it, at direct contrast to the night he’d never been able to remember clearly.

Levi remembered and he answered honestly. “No.”

“Do you think I’m real?”

And that was the kicker. He wanted to. More than anything else, he wanted Eren to be real.

“Yes,” he breathed, hoping against hope to believe it.

He could feel Eren smile. “Good.” He shifted, gently taking one of Levi’s hands in his own.

“Knowing you though, you’re going to doubt yourself again.” He lowered Levi’s hand until it was resting lightly on his chest, moving his own to cover it. “If you ever start to feel like you’re imagining a situation again, come back to this.”

Eren’s heart beat steadily under Levi’s palm. It was firm, calming in its faithful rhythm.

“I’ll always be here to ground you, Levi. You can doubt everything else, but don’t doubt this.”

“Okay,” Levi said, feeling the rush of blood under Eren’s skin. “I believe you.”

And he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thanks for putting up with me! Next chapter should be out sometime soon:):):)


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